The objective of this paper is to provide information and estimates about the impacts of managing the large number of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles that enter the market and will reach the end of their life in the coming years. The analysis compares two different hypothetical scenarios involving different levels of ambition regarding battery collection rates for recycling in Europe and the recycling efficiency rate for different materials. Four key materials are selected based on their economic, societal and environmental importance and data is collected through a literature review and information from interviews and consultations with experts. The study found that increased collection and recycling efficiency rates of EV batteries in the EU can mitigate dependence on imported materials and help retain the value of recovered materials within the EU economy. Further benefits of increased collection and recycling efficiency rates include job creation in the recycling sector and mitigating CO2 emissions. It is recommended that the EU continues and strengthens its support for R&I for lithium-ion battery recycling processes to improve their cost effectiveness and efficiency. The paper also suggests that more research is needed to provide evidence about the costs of recycling batteries, the level of investment needed to set up recycling facilities in Europe and the net impact on employment.


Competence and sociability (warmth) are fundamental dimensions of social judgment in organizations. However, these qualities are frequently seen as negatively related, with mixed evidence on which is more important. In three studies (N = 993) we investigated the effects of reward interdependence on the preference for sociability versus competence. We predicted that reward interdependence would elicit a more instrumental, calculative mindset, which in turn, would lead individuals to value competence more. Study 1 surveyed working adults who were in actual work groups and found that those who worked in more (vs. less) reward interdependent environments were more likely to think instrumentally and calculatively when considering potential colleagues. This mindset, in turn, was associated with a greater tendency to value competence over sociability. Studies 2 and 3 used an experimental design and found that when people imagined or anticipated working in a situation in which their economic outcomes depended in part on others, they were more likely to adopt an instrumental focus and choose a "competent jerk" over a "lovable fool". These results call into question a vast social judgment literature that has made claims about the importance of sociability and related constructs without considering the context, and particularly the reward interdependence, often inherent in organizational contexts.


Abstract Purpose: The construction industry in Pakistan faces a turbulent environment and multiple challenges to achieve its targets. In such situations, the interest in innovation grows, especially in management innovation, and the conviction about its significant role in boosting organizational performance gains researchers' interest. Accordingly, this article examines the mediating role of performance management in the relationship between management innovation and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a survey-based method from 281 managerial-rank employees working in the construction industry of Pakistan. The data were analyzed using PROCESS macro. Findings: The results reveal that management innovation and performance management directly influence organizational performance, while we also confirmed the mediating role of performance management. Implication: The association between management innovation and performance may seem palpable, but the recent literature asks for a reinvestigation. In tough competition and uncertain market situations, management innovation fosters knowledge creation and helps organizations adapt and drive them to higher performance. Originality/value: The study results enrich the scholarship about the role of management innovation in stimulating organizational performance and performance management.


By analyzing the national physique monitoring data obtained in 2010 in Hebei province, It summed up the current situation of overweight and obese people of 3-6 years old in Hebei Province in the age, gender, region and so on, It compared with the national physique monitoring of 3 to 6 years old children of overweight and obesity in 2000 and 2005, analysed the dynamic change trend of overweight and obese children a few years. The aim is to provide the scientific basis for the prevention and control of obesity among children in Hebei Province, help for the promotion of national fitness program. This paper investigated overweight and obesity children by the research method BMI. The research results indicated that childrenÂ's obesity rate in Hebei province from regional, age characteristics showed a rising trend; sleep time and activity time from age feature presented two different trends. This paper for children will provide reference and basis for further prevent fat and weight loss.


Theories of how nonunion employee representation impacts firm performance, affects market equilibria, and generates externalities on labor and society are synthesized. Mandated works councils in Germany provide a particularly strong form of nonunion employee representation. A systematic review of research on the German experience with mandated works councils finds generally positive effects, though these effects depend on a series of moderating factors and some impacts remain ambiguous. Finally, key questions for empirical research on nonunion employee representation, which have previously been little analyzed in the literature, are reviewed.


Multicomponent reactions are flexible reactions for the rapid generation of complex molecules with often biologically relevant scaffold structures. Combined with the ease of parallelization and the exploratory power with regard to chemical space, multicomponent reactions have attracted significant attention from the medicinal chemistry community. In this Review, we present an overview of recent literature concerning this topic to provide insight into the applications of multicomponent reactions in this field.


Escherichia coli (EHEC) 0157:H7 is a pathogenic bacterial species that is most commonly linked to severe diarrhea, but is also the leading cause of the potentially fatal hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS). In order to establish infection in the colon, EHEC must endure different stresses encountered in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, such as acid stress in the stomach, bile salt stress in the small intestine, and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) stress in the colon. These bacteria are likely able to use GI stresses as indicators of their location, impacting gene expression of adhesion, motility, and virulence factors. The E. coli Common Pilus (ECP) has been shown to be an important factor for EHEC adhesion to epithelial cells, which is increased after either acid or SCFA stress. It has also been demonstrated via microarray that genes of this operon are upregulated after acid stress. The aim of this study is to determine how expression of the main subunit of this structure, EcpA, is regulated upon exposure of EHEC 0157:H7 to acid or SCFA-stress. Both transcriptional and translational regulation are hypothesized to be involved. Isogenic mutants have been constructed that lacked key regulators suspected to be important for each system. Two approaches are used to determine if the predicted regulatory systems are playing a role in response to stress: observing EcpA protein expression analysis through Western blotting with anti-EcpA antibodies, and examining differences in ecp operon promoter activity in regulatory mutants. In this study Western blots reconfirmed H-NS does not modulate ecpA expression in direct response to acute acid stress. This suggests an alternate regulatory response in EHEC 0157:H7 to acute acid stress resulting in the upregulation of ecpA expression previously observed with microarray analysis.


In health care settings that serve low-income populations, healthcare legal partnerships (HLPs) are becoming a necessity in order to maximize clients' opportunities for health. Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLPs), also known as Healthcare Legal Partnerships (HLPs), add the power of law to reduce individual legal barriers and negative social determinants of health. The terms HLP and MLP are used interchangeably, though HLPs can and do include specialties and disciplines, such as dentistry, nursing, and social work, beyond those usually considered medicine. HLPs offer academic centers opportunities to enhance collaborative practice by jointly educating law and healthcare students for partnership. In the U.S., nurses are the most trusted profession in society and the largest healthcare profession. Nursing can use its diffuse presence and power to actualize the growing research suggesting HLPs can help society achieve the concurrent goals of improved care, better health, and lower per capita healthcare costs.
Erratum
Issued June 10, 2016. The following citations should be included in the reference list:
Beck, A. F., Klein, M. D., Schaffzin, J. K., Tallent, V., Gillam, M., & Kahn, R. S. (2012). Identifying and treating a substandard housing cluster using a medical-legal partnership. Pediatrics, 130(5), 831-838.
Klein, M. D., Beck, A. F., Henize, A. W., Parrish, D. S., Fink, E. E., & Kahn, R. S. (2013). Doctors and Lawyers Collaborating to HeLP Children: Outcomes from a Successful Partnership between Professions. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 24(3), 1063-1073.
Nightingale, F. (1859). Notes on Nursing. London: Duckworth
Pettignano, R., Bliss, L. R., Caley, S. B., & McLaren, S. (2013). Can access to a medical-legal partnership benefit patients with asthma who live in an urban community? Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 24(2), 706-717.


This paper investigates the time-discrete multitapers that give a mean square error optimal Wigner spectrum estimate for a class of locally stationary processes (LSPs). The accuracy in the estimation of the time-variable Wigner spectrum of the LSP is evaluated and compared with other frequently used methods. The optimal multitapers are also approximated by Hermite functions, which is computationally more efficient, and the errors introduced by this approximation are studied. Additionally, the number of windows included in a multitaper spectrum estimate is often crucial and an investigation of the error caused by limiting this number is made. Finally, the same optimal set of weights can be stored and utilized for different window lengths. As a result, the optimal multitapers are shown to be well approximated by Hermite functions, and a limited number of windows can be used for a mean square error optimal spectrogram estimate.


ABSTRACT Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) infection of differentiated cells within the host and establishment of latency likely requires evasion of innate immunity and limits secretion of antiviral cytokines. Here we report that its immediate-early protein ORF61 antagonizes the beta interferon (IFN-β) pathway. VZV infection down-modulated the Sendai virus (SeV)-activated IFN-β pathway, including mRNA of IFN-β and its downstream interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs), ISG54 and ISG56. Through a primary screening of VZV genes, we found that ORF61 inhibited SeV-mediated activation of IFN-β and ISRE (IFN-stimulated response element) promoter activities but only slightly affected NF-κB promoter activity, implying that the IFN-β pathway may be blocked in the IRF3 branch. An indirect immunofluorescence assay demonstrated that ectopic expression of ORF61 abrogated the detection of IRF3 in SeV-infected cells; however, it did not affect endogenous dormant IRF3 in noninfected cells. Additionally, ORF61 was shown to be partially colocalized with activated IRF3 in the nucleus upon treatment with MG132, an inhibitor of proteasomes, and the direct interaction between ORF61 and activated IRF3 was confirmed by a coimmunoprecipitation assay. Furthermore, Western blot analysis demonstrated that activated IRF3 was ubiquitinated in the presence of ORF61, suggesting that ORF61 degraded phosphorylated IRF3 via a ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. Semiquantitative reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) analysis demonstrated that the level of ISG54 and ISG56 mRNAs was also downregulated by ORF61. Taken together, our results convincingly demonstrate that ORF61 down-modulates the IRF3-mediated IFN-β pathway by degradation of activated IRF3 via direct interaction, which may contribute to the pathogenesis of VZV infection.


-Field experiments on the pollination biology of slickspot peppergrass, Lepidium papilliferum L. (Brassicaceae), a rare species endemic to microsites in sagebrush-steppe habitat in southwestern Idaho, were conducted at 2 sites from May to July 2001. Site KB contained over 10,000 plants, whereas site WC contained less than 150 plants. Insect exclusion experiments revealed that seed production in L. papillijerum is dependent on insect-mediated pollination; median percent seed set dropped from 70% to 2% when insects were excluded from nowers. A total of 25 insect families from 5 orders visited L. papilliferum flowers: 24 families at KB and 11 families at WG. Only 9 families contained more than trace amounts of pollen on their bodies: Hymenoptera-Anthophoridae, Apidae, Colletidae, Halictidae, Spheeidae. Vespidae; Coleoptera-Cerambycidae. Dermestidae; Diptera-Syrphidae. Inseets from these families are likely responsible for pollination of L. papilliferum., although some may be of only minor significance due to their infrequent visits to flowers. Two of the 4 most common and pollen-laden insects found at KB, honey bees (Apis mellifem) and colletid bees, were absent or rore at we. Three other pollen-carrying families present at KB, Spheeidae, Vespidae, and Halictidae, were not found at WC. We raise several possible explanations for this disparity in pollinator communities between sites and discuss the importance of pollinator diversity to the long term viability of L papillijerum.


In my language arts methods courses at the university, I spend time demonstrating the efficacy of a meaning-based curriculum. Students spend time in my classes reading and writing for functional purposes. They collaborate on assignments and choose many of the projects from an extensive list. They even design their own exams. I try to engage my students in activities which are alternatives to traditional instruction, so that they will teach young children in similar ways. Yet, I always have some students who argue for traditional instruction. One student may say, "It worked for me," while another might question, "If it's so bad, why don't all children who receive traditional instruction fail?" These questions made me ponder Audrey, a child I observed closely for two years. Audrey was a low-SES learner in a traditional classroom who was a successful literacy learner.


Much recent commentary has centered on the importance of well-anchored inflation expectations serving as the foundation of a well-behaved inflation rate. But the difficulty in relying on this principle is that inflation expectations are not directly observable, and thus it is hard to know whether expectations truly play such an anchoring role in the evolution of inflation. In the current circumstances this question is of much more than academic interest, as widely used measures suggest the coincidence of a large unemployment gap and muted production costs with fairly stable long-run inflation expectations. While a high unemployment rate would tend to depress inflation, lower production costs may serve as a counterweight to downward pressure. Which effect will prevail? This brief examines the role of expectations and anchoring by employing expectations proxies derived from surveys of professional forecasters. The brief concludes that there is some evidence that stable long-run expectations have an indirect anchoring effect on inflation, but that to date the effect on resource slack remains considerable.


Levels of child malnutrition in India have fallen only slowly during the 1990s despite significant economic growth and considerable expenditure on the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme of which the major component is supplementary feeding for malnourished children. To begin to unravel this puzzle this article assesses the programme's placement and its outcomes using NFHS data from 1992 and 1998. The authors find that programme placement is clearly regressive across states. The states with the greatest need for the programme — the poor Northern states which account for nearly half of India's population and which suffer from high levels of child malnutrition — have the lowest programme coverage and the lowest budgetary allocations from the central government. Programme placement within states is more progressive: poorer and larger villages have a higher probability of having an ICDS centre as do those with other development programmes or community associations. In terms of outcomes the authors find little evidence of programme impact on child nutrition status in villages with ICDS centres. (authors)


Proteasome inhibition has recently been demonstrated to inhibit hepatic fibrogenesis in the bile duct-ligated (BDL) mouse by blocking stellate cell NF-kappaB activation. The effect of proteasome inhibition on liver injury, however, is unclear. Our aims were to assess the effect of the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib on liver injury in the BDL mouse. Liver injury was assessed in 7-day BDL mice treated with a single dose of bortezomib on day 4 after bile duct ligation. Despite NF-kappaB inhibition by bortezomib, liver injury and hepatocyte apoptosis were reduced in treated BDL mice. The antiapoptotic effect of bortezomib was likely mediated by an increase in hepatic cellular FLICE inhibitory protein (c-FLIP) levels, a potent antiapoptotic protein. Unexpectedly, numerous mitotic hepatocytes were observed in the bortezomib-treated BDL mice liver specimens. Consistent with this observation, PCNA immunoreactivity and cyclin A protein expression were also increased with bortezomib treatment. Bortezomib therapy was also associated with a decrease in numbers and activation of Kupffer cells/macrophages. In conclusion, these data suggest that the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib reduces hepatocyte injury in the BDL mouse by mechanisms associated with a reduction in hepatocyte apoptosis, a decrease in Kupffer cell/macrophage number and activation, and increased hepatocyte proliferation.


Previous research has shown that psychological capital (PsyCap) is associated with desired employee behavioral and performance outcomes. Extending previous research, we examine, in two studies, if the PsyCap of Norwegian air traffic controllers is related to their perceptions of safety climate. Based on bootstrapping procedures, results from Study 1 (N = 77) and Study 2 (N = 38) revealed that PsyCap was positively correlated with safety climate. In Study 1, PsyCap explained 31% of the variance in safety climate. Controlling for mediating effects of positive and negative emotions in Study 2, PsyCap explained 15.5% of the variance. These results provide first-time empirical evidence linking PsyCap to safety climate in safety critical organizations.


Of late, policy and research attention has increasingly focused on making the Circular Economy a reality. A key part of this agenda is the creation of Sustainable Product Service Systems (SPSS) that meet consumers' needs whilst lessening negative environmental impacts. Although the SPSS literature has grown recently, key aspects require further examination. In response, this paper discusses empirical research exploring consumers' reactions to a novel, hypothetical mobile phone SPSS, utilizing qualitative methods that included 'business origami'. It examines consumers' knowledge about current mobile phone life cycles, and responses to the proposed SPSS, drawing on a 'systems of practice' framework to discuss the potential for significant changes in phone purchase and use. It outlines barriers to alterations in practices, underscoring the centrality that connectivity and data storage now have in many peoples' daily lives, which have for some become clustered around the capabilities and accessibility of the mobile phone.


Philosophy with Children, in all its guises, aims to engender philosophical thinking and reasoning in children. Much is written about what participation in philosophy might do for children academically and emotionally. What is proposed here is that by allowing children to participate in philosophical dialogue they will learn an approach that might support their participation in society. It is inevitable that by living with others one encounters others' values. It is essential, therefore, that children learn how to deal with others' values but also that they learn how to develop their own through questioning and reflection. Rather than teach children about values or teach them the values they should hold, this article suggests that children should be afforded opportunities to explore a range of perspectives but that they need to learn how to do this. In addition, though, in order to live harmoniously with others, there are considerations beyond ethics to be encountered. Children need to learn how to engage with politics, art, science, literature, and the wider range of issues that comprise life in a society. Indeed, children need to learn what is required of being a citizen.

Here the learning of the child is contextualised in the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence, where children are expected to be able "to make informed choices and decisions" and to "develop informed, ethical views of complex issues" (Scottish Executive, 2004, p.12) as part of their education for citizenship. If being a citizen involves these elements, then there is a challenge to teachers as to how children will achieve the desired outcomes. The aim of such a curriculum is that children learn for life in order that society will be enhanced. It is posited, in this article, that by participating in philosophical dialogue one is likely to foster appreciation for others and their perspectives, that one's own values and opinions evolve, and that this philosophical outlook may, in fact, work for the betterment of society. Indeed, what is suggested is that in doing philosophy one learns how to live well.


The inflammatory bowel diseases Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are common, chronic disorders that cause abdominal pain, diarrhea, and gastrointestinal bleeding. To identify genetic factors that might contribute to these disorders, we performed a genome-wide association study. We found a highly significant association between Crohn's disease and the IL23R gene on chromosome 1p31, which encodes a subunit of the receptor for the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin-23. An uncommon coding variant (rs11209026, c.1142G>A, p.Arg381Gln) confers strong protection against Crohn's disease, and additional noncoding IL23R variants are independently associated. Replication studies confirmed IL23R associations in independent cohorts of patients with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. These results and previous studies on the proinflammatory role of IL-23 prioritize this signaling pathway as a therapeutic target in inflammatory bowel disease.


Bamboo shavings (Bambusae Caulis in Taeniam, BCT) are widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine to control hypertension and cardiovascular disease, and to alleviate fever, vomiting, and diarrhea. It has been demonstrated that BCT reduces ovalbumin-induced airway inflammation by regulating pro-inflammatory cytokines, and decreases tumor growth in tumor-bearing mice. However, the effects of BCT on the metastatic potential of malignant cancer cells and the detailed mechanism of its anti-metastatic activity have not been examined previously. In this study, we investigated whether an aqueous extract of BCT (AE-BCT) reduces the metastatic potential of HT1080 cells, and elucidated the underlying anti-metastatic mechanism. In addition, we examined whether AE-BCT administration inhibits pulmonary metastasis of intravenously injected B16F10 cells in C57BL/6J mice. AE-BCT (50–250 µg/ml) dose-dependently suppressed colony-forming activity under anchorage-dependent and -independent growth conditions. Pretreatment with AE-BCT efficiently inhibited cell migration, invasion, and adhesion. AE-BCT also dramatically suppressed PMA-induced MMP-9 activity and expression by blocking NF-κB activation and ERK phosphorylation. Production of intracellular ROS, a key regulator of NF-κB-induced MMP-9 activity, was almost completely blocked by pretreatment with AE-BCT. Furthermore, daily oral administration of AE-BCT at doses of 50 and 100 mg/kg efficiently inhibited lung metastasis of B16F10 cells injected into the tail veins of C57BL/6J mice with no systemic toxicity. These results demonstrate that AE-BCT significantly reduced the metastatic activity of highly malignant cancer cells by suppressing MMP-9 activity via inhibition of ROS-mediated NF-κB activation. These results indicate that AE-BCT may be a safe natural product for treatment of metastatic cancer.


In this paper, a teaching application for remote real-time execution of physical process controllers is presented. This application has been developed using the platform Matlab/Simulink. The motivation of this work is based on the little availability of real physical systems or laboratories to perform the experiments in control courses. In this way, control lab assignments with various physical processes present in the remote laboratories can be performed. Also, some examples that show the validity and applicability of the presented architecture are introduced.


HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOM (HAB) COMMUNITIES AND CO-OCCURRING SPECIES IN RELATION TO NEAR SHORE OCEAN DYNAMICS IN SAN LUIS BAY, CALIFORNIA Samuel Christopher Rankin The occurrence of phytoplankton taxa, with special focus on harmful algal bloom (HAB) taxa, was monitored for one year off the central coast of California to examine both their cooccurrence and physical and chemical variables influencing their temporal patterns. Bi-weekly samples were taken from October 6, 2008 to October 5, 2009 in San Luis Obispo Bay, CA. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) of weekly samples indicated that 46.1% of the variability in species abundance was explained by the variables in the model, higher than previous reports. Cluster analysis divided phytoplankton communities into HAB and non-HAB groups of species, while shared distribution analysis identified specific co-occurring species of HABs. The HAB dinoflagellate group consisted exclusively of HAB taxa, including Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef, Dinophysis acuminata Claparede & Lachmann, and Alexandrium spp., and was correlated with a homogeneous water column and high nitrate concentration during the fall and winter seasons. The domoic acid producing diatoms Pseudonitzschia seriata (Cleve) H. Peragallo complex and Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima (Cleve) Heiden complex grouped with several other non-HAB diatoms, and were correlated with warm, thermally stratified waters of the summer season. These results contradict the classic diatom / dinoflagellate succession theory and suggest that event-scale processes influencing water column stability within seasons may influence the distribution of HAB species in near shore upwelling dominated regions.


The 2011 edition of the England and Wales National Joint Registry shows an increased failure rate for resurfacing and Large Head Metal-on-Metal (LHMoM) hips compared to other designs. The recent recall of the DePuy ASR has only increased the worldwide interest in the assessment of wear of explanted hip joints. The failure of these components has been linked to increased wear rates.
Worldwide there have been a number of reports of adverse soft- tissue reactions in patients who have undergone metal-on-metal hip replacement. The NJR in the UK has shown that LHMoM bearings have been seen to exhibit a higher revision rate when compared to conventional bearing surfaces. Furthermore these bearings have been seen to exhibit a markedly higher failure rate than the equivalent resurfacing replacements of the same design. This leads to the conclusion that some factor relating to the modular nature of the LHMoM bearings must be contributing towards this increase in revision rate.
Measuring the wear of explanted components allows a direct insight into the in-vivo behaviour of the implants. Wear analysis is a vital tool in determining failure mechanisms and ultimately improving the longevity of joint replacements through improved design and manufacturing control. To achieve this methods have been developed to accurately quantify in vivo total joint replacement wear from retrieved total hip replacement components.
This study aims to improve the understanding of the interaction at the modular taper junction by developing a protocol for the accurate measurement of material loss and resultant surface topography at this interface in clinically retrieved components. The results are discussed and are analysed in light of the possible implications regarding component failure mode.


Abstract Pseudochaenichthys georgianus is a member of the unique Channichthyidae family of fishes, which lack haemoglobin. The distribution, length-frequency and summer diet are described from 14 bottom trawl surveys undertaken in the summers between 1986 and 2006. Pseudochaenichthys georgianus (50–590 mm TL) were caught throughout the South Georgia shelf from depths of 76–370 m, but very few specimens (< 1%) were caught on the Shag Rocks shelf. Multiple cohorts were present during each survey and length-frequency analysis of these cohorts suggests that growth is fast during the first 3–4 years. Stomach contents analysis (2005 & 2006) indicated that P. georgianus is a pelagic or semi pelagic predator, with the summer diet dominated by Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba). Fish (channichthyids and notothenids) were also taken, but were a relatively minor part of the diet.


The endothelium, a continuous cellular monolayer lining the blood vessels, has an enormous range of important homeostatic roles. It serves and participates in highly active metabolic and regulatory functions including control of primary hemostasis, blood coagulation and fibrinolysis, platelet and leukocyte interactions with the vessel wall, interaction with lipoprotein metabolism, presentation of histocompatibility antigens, regulation of vascular tone and growth and further of blood pressure. Many crucial vasoactive endogenous compounds like prostacyclin, thromboxane, nitric oxide, endothelin, angiotensin, endothelium derived hyperpolarizing factor, free radicals and bradykinin are formed in the endothelial cells to control the functions of vascular smooth muscle cells and of circulating blood cells. These versatile and complex systems and cellular interactions are extremely vulnerable. The balances may be disturbed by numerous endogenous and exogenous factors including psychological and physical stress, disease states characterized by vasospasm, inflammation, leukocyte and platelet adhesion and aggregation, thrombosis, abnormal vascular proliferation, atherosclerosis and hypertension. The endothelial cells are also the site of action of many drugs and exogenous toxic substances (e.g. smoking, alcohol). As markers and assays for endothelial dysfunction, direct measurement of nitric oxide, its metabolites from plasma and urine, functional measurement of vascular nitric oxide dependent responses and assay of different circulating markers have been used. In numerous pathological conditions (e.g. atherosclerosis, hypertension, congestive heart failure, hyperhomocysteinemia, diabetes, renal failure, transplantation, liver cirrhosis) endothelial dysfunction has been described to exist. Some of them, as well as hormonal and nutritional factors and drug treatment will be discussed in this short review.


The freshwater quality criteria of acetonitrile were studied on the basis of the features of the aquatic biota in China, and with reference to US EPA's guidelines. Acute tests were performed on 13 different species to determine 48h-EC50/96h-EC50 (or 96h-LC50) values for acetonitrile. 2ld survival-reproduction tests with Daphnia magna and growth inhibition tests with Lemna minor were also conducted to estimate lower chronic limit and upper chronic limit values. In the acute tests, Radix plicatula was the most sensitive species to acetonitrile followed by Chironomus sp., Cyprinus carpio and D. magna in turn. The final acute value of acetonitrile was 2290 mg/l. In the chronic tests, reproduction of daphnids was significantly reduced by acetonitrile at 320 mg/l. Acute-to-chronic ratios ranged from 2 to 15.8. A final chronic value of 413.9 mg/l was obtained and a final plant value was 1342 mg/I. A criterion maximum concentration (1145 mg/l) and a criterion continuous concentration (413.9 mg/l) were derived.


The effects of pharmacological modulation of adrenergic receptors on colonic motor and sensory function are unclear. We studied 40 healthy volunteers in a single-blind design; 12 received saline, and the remaining 28 received either clonidine, yohimbine, phenylephrine, or ritodrine. A barostat-manometric assembly in the left colon recorded drug effects on fasting and postprandial motor function, compliance, and sensation in response to standardized phasic balloon distensions delivered in random order. Clonidine reduced and yohimbine increased fasting, but not postprandial tone, by 63.2 ± 22.3% and 24.8 ± 8.8% (SE), respectively. Clonidine tended to reduce fasting phasic activity in the descending and sigmoid colon. A power exponential model provided the best fit to the compliance curve. Clonidine significantly increased colonic compliance. Clonidine reduced and yohimbine increased colonic perception of pain but not gas sensation during distension. Phenylephrine and ritodrine did not influence colonic motor or sensory function in the present studies. Thus α2-receptors modulate fasting colonic tone and compliance and alter perception of pain but not gas during mechanical stimulation of the colon.


And what is thinking? — Well, don't you ever think? Can't you observe yourself and see what is going on? It should be quite simple. You do not have to wait for it as for an astronomical event and then perhaps make your observation in a hurry.
Ludwig Wittgenstein (1963:106)
As I was led to keep in my study during many months worms in pots filled with earth, I became interested in them, and wished to learn how far they acted consciously, and how much mental power they displayed…. [A]s chance does not determine the manner in which [they drag] objects [leaves or paper] … into [their] burrows, and as the existence of specialized instincts for each particular case cannot be admitted, the first and most natural supposition is that worms try all methods until they at last succeed; but many appearances [i.e. observations] are opposed to such a supposition. One alternative alone is left, namely, that worms, although standing low in the scale of organization, possess some degree of intelligence. This will strike every one as very improbable; but it may be doubted whether we know enough about the nervous system of the lower animals to justify our natural distrust of such a conclusion. With respect to the small size of the cerebral ganglia, we should remember what a mass of inherited knowledge, with some power of adapting means to an end, is crowded into the minute brain of a worker ant.Charles Darwin (1976 [1881]:19–20,58)


Abstract Road noise constitutes one of the most adverse impacts of road traffic on the environment. Noise that is particularly annoying for local inhabitants is recorded in the vicinity of engineering structures where various types of expansion joints are used [1–3]. There are currently many road connections being built in Poland, including a total of almost ten thousand expansion joints. The authors of this article attempt to determine the noise differences of several of the most commonly used expansion joints – single-, double-, and multi-module, block and finger expansion joint described as one of the most advantageous from the acoustic point of view. This study also attempts to determine the im-pact of expansion joint types on the noise level in comparison to the road section not equipped with these devices, which was adopted as the base noise level.


Why is American punishment so cruel? While in continental Europe great efforts are made to guarantee that prisoners are treated humanely, in America sentences have gotten longer and rehabilitation programs have fallen by the wayside. Western Europe attempts to prepare its criminals for life after prison, whereas many American prisons today leave their inhabitants reduced and debased. In the last quarter of a century, Europe has worked to ensure that the baser human inclination toward vengeance is not reflected by state policy, yet America has shown a systemic drive toward ever increasing levels of harshness in its criminal policies. Why is America so short on mercy? In this deeply researched, comparative work, James Q. Whitman reaches back to the 17th and 18th centuries to trace how and why American and European practices came to diverge. Eschewing the usual historical imprisonment narratives, Whitman focuses instead on intriguing differences in the development of punishment in the age of Western democracy. European traditions of social hierarchy and state power, so consciously rejected by the American colonies, nevertheless supported a more merciful and dignified treatment of offenders. The hierarchical class system on the continent kept alive a tradition of less-degrading "high-status" punishments that eventually became applied across the board in Europe. The distinctly American, draconian regime, on the other hand, grows, Whitman argues, out of America's longstanding distrust of state power and its peculiar, broad-brush sense of egalitarianism. Low-status punishments were evenly meted out to all offenders, regardless of class or standing. America's unrelentingly harsh treatment of trangressors-this "equal opportunity degradation"- is, in a very real sense, the dark side of the nation's much vaunted individualism. A sobering look at the growing rift between the United States and Europe, Harsh Justice exposes the deep cultural roots of America's degrading punishment practices.


This document is from the Charles B. Moore Collection. It is a joint letter written by Matilda Dodd and Dinkie (Adelitia) McGee to the Moore family. In this letter, Matilda updates the Moore family on news from Gallatin, Tennessee and it includes: updates on family, friends, and correspondences which were received, a discussion about the dry weather and it's affects on the crops and the stock tank, a dialogue about Mary Thornhill, details about the produce that has been processed as cider, canned, or preserved, a discussion about Dinkie's poultry and the amount of butter she has sold, a dialogue about a disease which is afflicting the calves, instructions about the pictures which were sent to the Moore family, and news about school starting for Birdie,Alice, and Will. She closes the letter by stating that Linnet should attend the school with her kin. In Dinkie's letter, she details the happenings in Gallatin and the news includes: a dialogue about the dry weather and drought-like conditions, news about Will attending an ice cream supper at Limon McGee's place, a discussion about family members who traveled to Dry Fork for a meeting, details about a trip to Cousin Lou's place, a dialogue about John Wallace's burnt up thresher, news about a gift sent to Fannie, and a discussion about Linnet. She closes the letter by stating that Linnet must write soon. The envelope is included with the letter.


From the Publisher:
Written by the authors of the world's best-selling introductory/intermediate C and C++ textbooks, this comprehensive book examines Visual C++ .NET. Visual C++ .NET How to Program features the Deitels' signature LIVE-CODE™ approach to teaching programming with thousands of lines of code in hundreds of complete working programs. Start with an introduction to computers and Visual C++ .NET programming, then move on to more advanced topics such as graphical user interfaces (GUIs), multimedia, databases, and networking. Learn how to create reusable software components with classes and assemblies. Create database connections using ADO.NET, create Web-based applications using ATL Server and create Web services using ASP .NET and ATL server. The book features detailed LIVE-CODE™ examples that illustrate managed C++ code, highlight crucial files and streams concepts, show how to create custom GUI controls, demonstrate how to use sockets to hide network details, show real examples of Web services in action, demonstrate attributed programming in ATL/COM, illustrate COM components, and illustrate several substantial case studies. Benefit from the Deitels' outstanding and consistent pedagogy with icons that highlight good programming practices, common errors, software engineering observations, portability tips, performance tips, and testing and debugging tips. For anyone interested in learning how to program Visual C++ .NET. Previously appeared in 12/2002 catalog.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of variations of the angiotensinogen (AGT) and angiotensin II type I receptor (AGTR1) genes on progression of blood pressure (BP) and left ventricular mass (LVM) in multiethnic youth. The study was longitudinal involving 581 European American (EA) and African American (AA) youth with 12 assessments over a 15-year period. AGT M235T and three AGTR1 polymorphisms (C-521T, L191L and A1166C) were genotyped and individual growth curve modeling analyses were conducted. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analyses found a significant 3-way interaction between M235T, ethnicity and gender on BP levels. Systolic BP (SBP) levels were 5.8 mmHg (p = .00003) and diastolic BP (DBP) levels were 2.6 mmHg (p = .005) lower in carriers versus noncarriers of the M235 allele in AA males only. Furthermore, the AGTR1 L191 allele showed a SBP lowering effect in subjects with a high socioeconomic status (SES;p = .048) and a DBP lowering effect in AAs (p = .038). Haplotype analyses identified a protective haplotype (C-521, 191L and A1166) for LVM levels (p = .03). LVM in individuals homozygous for this haplotype was 12.9 g lower than those homozygous for the most common haplotype (-521T, 191L and A1166). No significant interactions were found between the AGT M235T polymorphism and any of the single SNPs or haplotypes of the AGTR1 gene. Our results in multiethnic youth uncover an ethnicity and gender-specific effect of the AGT M235T polymorphism and a SES or ethnicity-specific effect of the AGTR1 L191L polymorphism on the progression of hypertension risk. A protective AGTR1 haplotype for LVM was also identified.


Coastal responses to sea level rise (SLR) include inundation of wetlands, increased shoreline erosion, and increased flooding during storm events. Hydrodynamic parameters such as tidal ranges, tidal prisms, tidal asymmetries, increased flooding depths and inundation extents during storm events respond nonadditively to SLR. Coastal morphology continually adapts toward equilibrium as sea levels rise, inducing changes in the landscape. Marshes may struggle to keep pace with SLR and rely on sediment accumulation and the availability of suitable uplands for migration. Whether hydrodynamic, morphologic, or ecologic, the impacts of SLR are interrelated. To plan for changes under future sea levels, coastal managers need information and data regarding the potential effects of SLR to make informed decisions for managing human and natural communities. This review examines previous studies that have accounted for the dynamic, nonlinear responses of hydrodynamics, coastal morphology, and marsh ecology to SLR by implementing more complex approaches rather than the simplistic "bathtub" approach. These studies provide an improved understanding of the dynamic effects of SLR on coastal environments and contribute to an overall paradigm shift in how coastal scientists and engineers approach modeling the effects of SLR, transitioning away from implementing the "bathtub" approach. However, it is recommended that future studies implement a synergetic approach that integrates the dynamic interactions between physical and ecological environments to better predict the impacts of SLR on coastal systems.


The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the modification of the scoring system on two football training tasks, on the mental load perceived by the athletes. Likewise, the repercussion on conditional aspects was analyzed. The participants were 40 soccer players belonging to four teams of the U18 division of honor, who carried out two different training tasks, the first a 5x5 possession and the second a reduced 5x5 match. Each task was developed on different days, with and without modification of the scoring system. Thus, to verify the perception of mental load, the NASA – Task Load Index questionnaire was used and mental fatigue was analyzed using Visual Analogical Scale. In addition, their perception of effort and the external load with GPS system were evaluated. The results showed that the modification of the scoring system significantly affected the load and mental fatigue in both tasks, affecting more in the situation of reduced match than in possession. In addition, it was found that there were differences in relation to the physical load, showing that both variables, although related, affect differently. Therefore, the results obtained allow a first approximation to the importance of quantifying and controlling the mental load in sport, taking into account that it can have a different effect on the physical load.


Over a 13-month period, serum potassium and magnesium levels were measured in 590 patients admitted to a coronary care unit. Hypokalemia, often in the absence of diuretic use, occurred in 17% of the 211 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Patients with acute myocardial infarction and a potassium level of less than 4.0 mEq/L (4.0 mmol/L) had an increased risk of ventricular arrhythmias (59% vs 42%). Because hypokalemia is common in acute myocardial infarction and is associated with ventricular arrhythmias, routine measurement of serum potassium levels and prompt correction are recommended. Hypomagnesemia occurred in only 4% of the patients, but it was more common in the group with acute myocardial infarction than in the group without myocardial infarction (6% vs 3%). Ventricular arrhythmias occurred in ten of the 13 patients with both acute myocardial infarction and hypomagnesemia, but eight of these patients also had low serum potassium levels. This low incidence of hypomagnesemia does not justify routine measurement of serum magnesium levels. However, the mean level (2.5 +/- 0.4 mg/dL [1.03 +/- 0.16 mmol/L]) in a reference population of healthy volunteers was unexpectedly high and suggests that the low incidence of hypomagnesemia in our population may not be applicable to other centers and may reflect a higher magnesium content in our geographic area of southeastern Ontario.


Often multiple instances of an object occur in the same scene, for example in a warehouse. Unsupervised multi-instance object discovery algorithms are able to detect and identify such objects. We use such an algorithm to provide object proposals to a convolutional neural network (CNN) based classifier. This results in fewer regions to evaluate, compared to traditional region proposal algorithms. Additionally, it enables using the joint probability of multiple instances of an object, resulting in improved classification accuracy. The proposed technique can also split a single class into multiple sub-classes corresponding to the different object types, enabling hierarchical classification.


Ten millennia ago, the fairy People were defeated in a great battle with mankind, forcing them to move underground. Only the eighth family of fairies remained undefeated: the demons. But now one demon has discovered the secrets of the fairy world, and if humans get hold of this information the fairies are in big trouble. Only one person can prevent this disaster - teenage criminal mastermind Artemis Fowl. Action packed and full of humour, it is a must-read for boys and girls aged 10+.


OBJECTIVES
To investigate the risk factors and clinical characteristics of lymphoproliferative disorder (LPD) in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

METHODS
We enrolled patients with RA aged ≥20 years who visited the participating hospitals between April 2011 and July 2011. We investigated the risk factors for LPD using a Cox proportional hazard model and described pathological features and vital prognosis of LPD in patients with RA.

RESULTS
We enrolled 9,815 patients with following characteristics at baseline: female 79.4%, median age 63 years; median disease duration 7 years; median DAS28-CRP (3) 3.1; prevalence of MTX use 60.0%. Sixty-eight patients (0.69%) developed LPD in 3-year observation period. Multivariable analysis showed that age by decade (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.47 [1.18-1.85]) and MTX use at baseline (2.35 [1.25-4.42] for ≤8 mg/week, 4.39 [2.07-9.32] for >8 mg/week versus non-use) were significant risk factors of LPD. Of 55 patients with pathological diagnosis, diffuse large B cell lymphoma was the most frequent (54%). The 5-year mortality of LPD was 24%. The major cause of death was lymphoma (81%).

CONCLUSION
This nationwide study revealed risk factors, clinical characteristics, and prognosis of LPD in the largest number of Japanese patients with RA.


Many students are reconsidering their decision to go to college in the fall due to the coronavirus pandemic. Indeed, college enrollment is expected to be down sharply as a growing number of would-be college students consider taking a gap year. In part, this pullback reflects concerns about health and safety if colleges resume in-person classes, or missing out on the "college experience" if classes are held online. In addition, poor labor market prospects due to staggeringly high unemployment may be leading some to conclude that college is no longer worth it in this economic environment. In this post, we provide an economic perspective on going to college during the pandemic. Perhaps surprisingly, we find that the return to college actually increases, largely because the opportunity cost of attending school has declined. Furthermore, we show there are sizeable hidden costs to delaying college that erode the value of a college degree, even in the current economic environment. In fact, we estimate that taking a gap year reduces the return to college by a quarter and can cost tens of thousands of dollars in lost lifetime earnings.


Darwinism has become an encompassing theory, leaving the confines of science and accounting for all aspects of life. Such an outlook entails important consequences for the evaluation of life. In particular, organisms are considered mere means for species' preservation and development, while reason is no special faculty, but rather an outgrowth of functions that are rudimentarily present in animals. Darwinism cannot, for that reason, be said to be 'true', but if Darwinism is the correct view, the implications for man are grave, no purpose or meaning of life being discernable. Darwinists are accordingly faced with the question why they continue their inquiries.


Much of the computational cost involved in full-waveform inversion comes from the solution of the wave equation in a large domain. These computations must be done for the entire domain through which we expect waves to pass for a particular survey, despite the fact that our region of interest is often significantly smaller. In addition to the wasted time spent propagating waves through less important parts of the model, computing updates on the entire domain may result in slower convergence of the inversion algorithm due to the larger model space. This can be especially important in 4D seismic monitoring, where we often see the majority of changes within a small subregion of the total domain, such as the reservoir. We present a local wave solver that accurately computes the solution of the wave equation within only a subdomain of the region covered by the survey, representing a significant cost saving in the computation of full-waveform inversion. We also show how this solver can improve the resulting velocity estimates in full-waveform inversion for time-lapse applications and observe that the local solver requires fewer iterations to converge than does the full-domain solver.


Recently, a new research area, named Privacy-preserving Distributed Data Mining (PPDDM) has emerged. It aims at solving the following problem: a number of participants want to jointly conduct a data mining task based on the private data sets held by each of the participants. This problem setting has captured attention and interests of researchers, practitioners and developers from the communities of both data mining and information security. They have made great progress in designing and developing solutions to address this scenario. However, researchers and practitioners are now faced with a challenge on how to devise a standard on synthesizing and evaluating various PPDDM protocols, because they have been confused by the excessive number of techniques developed so far. In this paper, we put forward a framework to synthesize and characterize existing PPDDM protocols so as to provide a standard and systematic approach of understanding PPDDM-related problems, analyzing PPDDM requirements and designing effective and efficient PPDDM protocols.


Spurt requests a deepening of our liturgy The science of Liturgy is currently experiencing a considerable expansion of knowledge and contributions from Reformed scholars need to bear a unique imprint. This article argues for an approach aimed at intensifying the liturgy – an intensification implying that God's mighty presence should be recognized, experienced, acknowledged and confessed in the gathering of the congregation and during each element of the worship service. Two examples, namely the Word service and the service of Humbling and Reconciliation, illustrate what this intensification means. In conclusion, guidelines are provided for addressing contentious liturgical issues, such as transcultural enrichment and the use of symbols and rituals in the liturgy of the congregation and in the liturgy of life.


Presented in the article, the issue relates to memorial locations, which to this day in the Polish legal system does not have a comprehensive legal regulation. In common parlance the term of memorial functions for many years, but terms of the classification and the construction, maintenance and decommissioning haven't been definied. Only in case of war graves and cemeteries are: the Act of 28 March 1933 and Regulation of 23 October 1936 , which in the current circumstances do not regulate all aspects of martyrdom. In some cases, are also acts of international law, but their range is severely limited because only refer to memorial locations associated with the signatories to the contract. Recently taken legislative work on the regulation of memorial problems have now been abandoned. Also, the achievements of judicial decisions does not bring a clear answer to the question: what is the place of memory. One solution that makes it easy to determine monuments and the rules of their maintenance, are acts of local law – an example of which can be called "monument resolution" adopted by the City Council of Wroclaw.


ABSTRACT Non-Gaussian/non-linear data assimilation is becoming an increasingly important area of research in the Geosciences as the resolution and non-linearity of models are increased and more and more non-linear observation operators are being used. In this study, we look at the effect of relaxing the assumption of a Gaussian prior on the impact of observations within the data assimilation system. Three different measures of observation impact are studied: the sensitivity of the posterior mean to the observations, mutual information and relative entropy. The sensitivity of the posterior mean is derived analytically when the prior is modelled by a simplified Gaussian mixture and the observation errors are Gaussian. It is found that the sensitivity is a strong function of the value of the observation and proportional to the posterior variance. Similarly, relative entropy is found to be a strong function of the value of the observation. However, the errors in estimating these two measures using a Gaussian approximation to the prior can differ significantly. This hampers conclusions about the effect of the non-Gaussian prior on observation impact. Mutual information does not depend on the value of the observation and is seen to be close to its Gaussian approximation. These findings are illustrated with the particle filter applied to the Lorenz '63 system. This article is concluded with a discussion of the appropriateness of these measures of observation impact for different situations.


Providing a case of bottled water as the main source of drinking water for a nation, this article looks at the unfolding of this development in Mexico and locates it into the mainstream debate about how to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) Target 6.1: universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all. This is timely and relevant due to the 2017 amplification of the indicators defining access to improved sources of water to include the use of bottled water, under the broader category of "packaged water." This signifies that populations that rely on bottled water as a complement to tap water, independent of the frequency and quality of this service, will be considered to have achieved the target. In only two decades, the phenomenon of bottled water has grown from a high‐end, niche consumer good to a global industry valued at $170 billion and climbing. The industry now stands poised to show how the private sector can be involved in achieving global targets, such as SDG 6.1, while earning large profits. In Mexico, 2017 estimates show 73% of the national population relies on bottled water as their unique source of drinking water, up from 61% in 2010. The article will trace the industry's history in Mexico rising out of an earthquake, a cholera epidemic, a financial crisis and the actions of the bottled water corporations. The profitability of this particular model of water delivery has attracted large‐scale investment by multinational food and beverage corporations and banks as well a recent explosion of small‐scale neighborhood water shops selling relatively small quantities of water. Today, this Mexican model is actively being replicated in other regions. Using a literature review and interviews with key informants from CONAGUA, Mexico's national water commission, the article traces four "lines of flight" of the origin and development of the bottled water industry in Mexico. The article reviews the current expansion of market actors and the published strategies of the dominant multinational corporations, to show the various configurations of the bottled water industry that are competing for the future of water delivery. The paper concludes by suggesting that the consequences of this trend deserve renewed examination by the water research community.


An experiment was conducted investigating the utility of teamwork exercises and problem structure for promoting technological problem solving in a student team context. The teamwork exercises were designed for participants to experience a high level of psychomotor coordination and cooperation with their teammates. The problem structure treatment was designed based on small group research findings on brainstorming, information processing, and problem formulation. First-year college engineering students (N = 294) were randomly assigned to three levels of team size (2, 3, or 4 members) and two treatment conditions: teamwork exercises and problem structure (N = 99 teams). In addition, the study included three nonmanipulated, independent variables: team gender, team temperament, and team teamwork orientation. Teams were measured on technological problem solving through two conceptually related technological tasks or engineering design activities: a computer bridge task and a truss model task. The computer bridge score and the number of computer bridge design iterations, both within subjects factors (time), were recorded in pairs over four 30-minute intervals. For the last two intervals with the computer bridge, teams started construction of the truss model task, which created low and high task load conditions for the computer bridge: another within subjects factor. A repeated measures ANOVA was used to analyze time (computer bridge) by factor interactions. No significant time by teamwork exercises or time by problem structure interactions on computer bridge scores were found [F(2.31, 198.46) = 0.10, p = .928; F(2.31, 198.46) = 0.03, p = .984]. There was a significant interaction between the factors of time and team size [F(4.62, 198.46) = 2.75, p = .023]. An ANOVA was conducted with the between subject factors on the truss model task. A significant main effect was found for teamwork exercises [F(1, 86) = 2.84, p = .048, one-tailed], but not for problem structure or team size. Post hoc analyses were conducted for team size on computer bridge and iteration scores over time, as well as teamwork exercises effects for each team size. Findings and their implications were reported, along with suggestions for future research on technological problem solving in a team context. iv Teamwork and Technological Problem Solving


Glaucoma is the name given to a group of diseases characterized by incurable, progressive, multifactorial optic neuropathy. It is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Ocular hypertension (OH) is the term used to describe the presence of raised intraocular pressure (the most important risk factor for the development of glaucoma) in the absence of demonstrable glaucomatous optic neuropathy.

The management of glaucoma and OH requires a holistic and rational approach, taking into account a number of factors. Treatment needs to be individualized depending on patient age, the severity and type of glaucoma, associated medical conditions, the condition of the ocular surface, tolerability of topical medication, and patient wishes. An understanding of the mechanism of glaucoma and its etiology in a particular patient is crucial for the initiation of appropriate treatment.

This review article summarizes the existing medical management of glaucoma and OH, including pharmacology, mode of action, and safety profile for each major group of medication, and reviews current advances and future developments in treatment for glaucoma, including experimental medications, together with a summary of their modes of action, pharmacology, and safety profiles. It is hoped that readers will become more aware of the evolution of the next generation glaucoma and OH medications.


Corpus analysis is today at the heart of building Terminological Knowledge Bases (TKBs). Important terms are usually first extracted from a corpus and then related to one another via semantic relations. This research brings the discovery of semantic relations to the forefront to allow the discovery of less stable lexical units or unlabeled concepts, which are important to include in a TKB to facilitate knowledge organization. We suggest a concept hierarchy made of concept nodes defined via a representational structure emphasizing both labeling and conceptual representation. The Conceptual Graph formalism chosen for conceptual representation allows a compositional view of concepts, which is relevant for their comparison and their organization in a concept lattice. Examples manually extracted from a scuba-diving corpus are presented to explore the possibilities of this approach. Subsequently, steps toward a semi-automatic construction of a concept hierarchy from corpus analysis are presented to evaluate their underlying hypothesis and feasibility.


Annotation is an integral part of reading, comprehending, commenting, and authoring notes and documents. In this paper we present a system for recognizing annotations in a flexible digital notebook that may contain a variety of content ranging from text, to images, to handwritten notes. To accomplish the recognition task in real-time makes the complicated annotation parsing problem more difficult.
 Our approach differs from previous approaches in several ways. First, our approach handles annotations on ink notes, which are significantly more ambiguous than annotations on printed documents and hence more difficult to recognize. Second, our approach is entirely learned from data, so it is easy to adapt to other scenarios. Third, our approach is more thoroughly evaluated than previous systems. On a test set of real user notes, the system has achieved an average recall of 0.9258 on all annotation types. Finally, the implementation of the approach will be commercially available as an API in the upcoming release of Windows® Vista® and Office 12®.


The robust control of active magnetic bearings, based on a linearised interval model, is considered. Through robust stability analysis, all the first-order robust stabilizing dynamical compensators for the interval system are obtained. Disturbance attenuation and minimum control effort are also addressed. The approach is applied to a high-speed flywheel supported by two active and two passive magnetic bearings. Simulation and experimental results both show that it is simple, effective, and robust.


Blood lactate has become easy to measure, with results now readily available to us in clinical practice from point-of-care testing and blood gas analysers. It has long been recognised that hyperlactataemia in acutely unwell patients is associated with poorer outcomes,1 but its interpretation and clinical significance is not always clear. In this review article, we present the evidence for the use of lactate as a diagnostic and therapeutic marker in acutely unwell children.

Lactate (2-hydroxypropanoic acid) is produced by glycolysis—glucose oxidation—from pyruvate, via the enzyme lactate dehydrogenase, which is located in the inner mitochondrial membrane.2 The terms 'lactate' and 'lactic acid' are often used interchangeably, but strictly speaking, at physiological pH, lactic acid is almost completely dissociated from its protons.3 The name originates from its initial discovery, in 1780, from samples of sour milk, and it was first isolated from blood in 1843 from women who died from puerperal sepsis.4 ,5 Historically, lactate was considered to be a 'waste product' of anaerobic metabolism and assumed to be a surrogate marker for tissue perfusion.1 However, more recent evidence has challenged these classic views. Lactate is now understood to be a valuable metabolic fuel, not necessarily associated with dysoxia, particularly in energy-intense organs such as the brain and skeletal muscle.6 ,7 It also plays an important role in cell signalling, via transporter proteins which shuttle lactate between cells.7 ,8 The familiar classification of lactic acidosis into type A (associated with hypoxia) and type B (in the absence of hypoxia)9 is somewhat limited, and fails to address the complexity of its physiology.

Lactate is continually produced and turned over rapidly, even at rest,4 ,8 and baseline blood levels of 0.5–1.8 mmol/L reflect the global balance between lactate production and consumption.10 …


Being a practising attorney or advocate is a tough job. The slightest error of judgement, delay or hastiness can screw up your client's case irretrievably. Court clerks and Registrars lose court files with predictable regularity. Judges and magistrates don't read the papers which took many hours to prepare, or just don't seem to know or apply the law. Clients expect you to solve the problems which they created or cannot solve themselves, but can't or won't pay you for the service. You must justify every minute of your day in billable hours. Not to mention the staff problems..


In this paper from the bi-annual Scottish Gaelic conference series "Rannsachadh na Gaidhlig 6" ("Gaelic Research 6"), the author examines a never-before published Gaelic song-poem composed/written in the Canadian west and collected by the author from Gaelic-speaking Canadian informants in the 1990s. The song-poem is remarkable in that it enacts the tri-partite moves of emigration/immigration from the Western Isles in the 1920s to Western Canadian prairie homesteads; then an act of out-migration from the prairies to the west coast of British Columbia; and final a projected return migration event back to the Glasgow metropolitan centre (second city of Empire) the speaker sees as his final destination. By using recent theories of 'ecriture migrante' and migration studies in general, the author sujbects 'Oran Anyox' to a close critical reading bolstered by the above critical apparatuses and buttressed by the work of Harold Innis concerning staple colonial economies in empires and the pull and push of centre-periphery modules of migration studies in general. The paper is written in Gaelic.


This article analyzes the potential conflict between economic growth and the maintenance of environmental quality in an overlapping generations model. Short-lived individuals make decisions which have long-lasting effects on both factor productivity and the environment. The model provides a theoretical explanation of observed correlations between environmental quality and income, whereby economic growth is associated first with declines, then improvements, in environmental quality. It suggests circumstances in which multiple Pareto-ranked steady-state equilibria may arise, and in which sustained growth of both capital and environmental quality may occur. Overmaintenance of the environment, analogous to dynamically inefficient overaccumulation of capital, may emerge. Copyright 1994 by Royal Economic Society.


BACKGROUND
Ischemic preconditioning has been shown to reduce myocardial infarct size in experimental models, but its role in patients remains unclear. Angina before myocardial infarction reflects brief episodes of ischemia and may be a marker of preconditioning. As part of the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) 4 study, we performed an analysis on the effect of a history of previous angina on in-hospital outcomes for patients with acute myocardial infarction.

METHODS AND RESULTS
Patients eligible for thrombolytic therapy were enrolled into the study. Data were collected from case report forms regarding previous history of angina, in-hospital outcome and 6-week follow-up. Two hundred eighteen patients had a history of previous angina at any time before acute myocardial infarction, and 198 patients did not have previous angina. Patients with any previous history of angina were less likely than with those without angina to experience in-hospital death (3% versus 8%) (P = .03), severe congestive heart failure (CHF) or shock (1% versus 7%, P = .006), or the combined end point of in-hospital death, severe CHF, or shock (4% versus 12%, P = .004). Moreover, patients with any history of angina were more likely to have a smaller creatine kinase (CK)-determined infarct size (119 versus 154 CK integrated units; P = .01) and were less likely to have Q waves on their ECG (57% versus 69%; P = .01). In the subset of patients who experienced angina within the 48 hours before infarction (compared with those who did not), there was a trend toward less likely in-hospital death (3% versus 6%; P = .09), a lower incidence of severe CHF or shock (1% versus 6% P = .008), a lower combined end point of death, CHF, or shock (3% versus 10%; P = .006), smaller infarct size assessed by CK (115 versus 151 CK units; P = .03), and a trend toward fewer Q-wave infarcts. However, patients with a history of previous angina did have a trend toward more recurrent ischemic pain. Of importance is that the beneficial in-hospital effects of previous angina were not dependent on angiographically visible coronary collaterals.

CONCLUSIONS
Previous angina confers a beneficial effect on in-hospital outcome after acute myocardial infarction. The reasons for this benefit are uncertain, but one potential mechanism for this observation may be ischemic preconditioning.


The deswelling behavior of cross-linked DNA gels reports on DNA-cosolute interactions and gives a basis for the development of responsive DNA formulations. An investigation of the deswelling kinetics shows that an increase in the surfactant tail length gives a pronouncedly slower deswelling kinetics. In the same conditions, single stranded gels exhibited faster deswelling kinetics when compared with double stranded networks. It was also found that DNA gels display a nonmonotonic volume change with time, deswelling followed by reswelling, when immersed in surfactant solutions. Kinetic modeling of surfactant uptake by the DNA gel was done using a stochastic approach of mass transfer between the bulk solution, the surface, and the inner volume of the gels. Diffusion coefficients and kinetic constants can be derived from the separated model uptake curves for the gel surface and the gel interior volume.


An analysis of the harmonic content in frequency-modulation and wavelength-modulation spectroscopy with a semiconductor diode laser under injection-current modulation is presented. It is argued that it is the optical power rather than the electric field that is directly modulated by the injection current. A description that is valid for both frequency-modulation and wavelength-modulation spectroscopy based on this concept is developed, and special attention is given to the residual amplitude modulation and second-harmonic (2 f) detection. Data obtained by measuring the magnitudes of the first and second harmonic of the modulation frequency of the output of a 1.31-µm distributed-feedback diode laser under sinusoidal modulation of the current and the 2 f absorption spectrum of water vapor in wavelength-modulation spectroscopy are presented. These data support the concept that it is the optical power of a diode laser that is directly modulated by modulation of the injection current.


Cameras used in functional cardial imaging studies are limited to low spatial resolutions in order to reach the frame rates required for mapping fast activation patterns in the intact heart. As a result, single pixels integrate signal from a large tissue volume, which leads to order of maginitude underestimates of action potential upstroke velocities. Temporal pixel multiplexing (TPM) is a new imaging modality that enables high resolution sensors to be used for high speed imaging tasks. A TPM imaging system was used to map voltage transients in a di-4-ANEPPS loaded Langendorff perfused guinea pig heart preparation at kilohertz rates. The TPM system measured action potential upstroke velocities that are far faster than those mapped with conventional sensors; captured values closely match theoretical limits determined from photon scattering simulations of voltage sensitive dye loaded heart preparations. TPM holds promise for overcoming limitations associated with conventional imaging modalities.


Abstract This paper compares two calibration approaches to enhance the ability of hydrodynamic models to describe the performance of combined sewer overflow (CSO) structures. One approach is based on the duration of CSO events (monitored by low-cost sensors) and the other focuses on the overflow volume. Both were applied to the West-Graz catchment model to simulate the discharge from the CSO overflow channel under small, medium and large rain episodes. The methodology includes sensitivity analysis of the model parameters and automatic calibration through optimization. The results revealed that the calibration using the CSO duration led to results similar to those of the approach that used overflow volume, with less than 12% error differences between approaches for medium and large rain episodes.


The aim of the study was to illustrate how music therapy can be used in the care of patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic illness.The method used was a literature review. Scientific articles were searched in PubMed, Cinahl, PsycINFO och Scopus databases with an outcome of ten articles, with in total 330 participants, that underwent quality and outcomes analysis.The results showed that music therapy could provide potential improvement in the patients' social functions and that it could also improve negative, some positive and general schizophrenia and psychotic symptoms in some patients. The form of music therapy used was often creative music activities with music therapist, with or without structure, or individually customized. The length of treatment varied widely. It was not possible to draw conclusions about which type of music therapy was best. In the studies where patients' experience came up, music therapy often made them feel good.The conclusion: The study has shown that music therapy can generally mitigate negative symptoms and improve social behavior. More research is needed to more clearly show the relation between music therapy and improvement in symptoms.


This doctoral project develops an interdisciplinary collaborative approach to furniture designer\maker practice. At its core is a practice-based framework that can be used to assess and reflect upon the tacit, primarily visual nature of makers' knowledge and the way that this can be communicated in order to develop design outcomes. The enquiry takes as its focus a two-year collaboration between the author – a British-based furniture designer/maker – and six indigenous Icelandic craft practitioners in which the ultimate goal was the creation of artefacts that, it was hoped, would be expressive of Iceland's native craft traditions. During the 'Iceland Project,' as it came to be known, interaction between and among participants was grounded in a predetermined plan developed democratically through consultation and dialogue. The project successfully develops new knowledge through a contemporary reinterpretation of indigenous Icelandic craft-making knowledge and demonstrates this through the making of artefacts imbued with recognized cultural status. It also extends furniture designer/maker research by developing an innovative practice-based method of collaboration rooted in the multimedia archiving of the making process which can then be used to illuminate and facilitate future practice. The project is a scholarly display of makers' knowledge: the process is shared democratically among peers; the decisions that articulate design and methods of making are reviewed; and inter-subjective outcomes are generated. To facilitate learning from designer/maker practice-based research, the creative narrative is necessarily partly articulated through visual media and artifacts.


Translation teaching is a process that translation theories could be applied to widely. Indepth study of how translation is taught can set the course for continuous improvement in translation itself. This paper looks at the present situation of translation teaching in mainland China from the following angles: the history of translation teaching, the importance of translation teaching, teaching materials, teaching methods, research into translation teaching, and teacher training. The paper concludes that the development of translation teaching depends on guidance from translation theory, and that effective translator training must incorporate the research and development of translation teaching theories. Therefore, teachers of translation must pay attention to translation studies as well as translation teaching theories. 1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF TRANSLATION TEACHING Modern systems of foreign language instruction in mainland China began in 1862. From that point on, translation teaching was used as a means of teaching foreign languages and would not become an independent discipline until 1978. As early as 1944, Yan'an Foreign Languages School, set up to train translators and interpreters in politics, military affairs and foreign affairs, offered courses in translation and interpreting. It was perhaps the first official translation course in mainland China, although there is no record of definite teaching programs or textbooks. Between 1949 and 1978, some of the foreign language institutes or departments included courses in translation, but the timetables indicate that translation was used mainly as an exercise to practice a foreign language. No distinction was made between teaching translation and translation teaching. As a result, teaching plans had little in common and the study of and research into translation teaching was non-existent. Most teachers of translation let their students translate text and then commented on the students' work in class. This method was subjective and allowed teachers to follow their own


Substitution of amino acid (aa) 70 and 91 in the core region of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1b can predict the response to pegylated interferon (PEG‐IFN)/ribavirin combination therapy, but its impact on triple therapy of telaprevir/PEG‐IFN/ribavirin is not clear. The aims of this study were to investigate the rate of HCV RNA loss following 12‐week triple therapy, and determine the effect of aa substitutions on very early (within 48 hr) viral dynamics. Sixty‐seven patients infected with HCV genotype 1b (HCV‐1b) and high viral load who received 12‐week triple therapy were studied. RNA loss could be achieved in 2%, 34%, 80%, 92%, 95%, 94%, and 90% of the patients after 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 weeks of triple therapy, respectively. After 24‐hr treatment, the proportion of patients with Arg70 and Leu91 substitutions with ≥3.0 log fall in HCV RNA was significantly higher than those with <3.0 log fall (P = 0.008). However, the aa substitution patterns in the core region did not influence the fall in HCV RNA after 48‐hr treatment. Multivariate analysis identified substitutions of aa 70 and 91 (P = 0.014) and level of viremia at baseline (≥7.0 log IU/ml; P = 0.085) as independent parameters that determined the ≥3.0 log fall in HCV RNA level after 24‐hr triple therapy. It is concluded that 12‐week triple therapy achieved high rates of loss of HCV RNA in Japanese patients infected with HCV‐1b and high viral load, and that the aa substitution pattern in the core region seems to influence very early viral dynamics. J. Med. Virol. 82:575–582, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the incidence, circumstances, and types of stroller-related injuries among US children.

DESIGN
Retrospective review of data for children 3 years old and younger from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System of the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission for 1994-1998.

RESULTS
There were an estimated 64 373 stroller-related injuries (95% confidence interval [CI]: 49 223-79 514) to children 3 years old and younger treated in hospital emergency departments in the United States during the 5-year study period. The median age at the time of the injury was 11 months; 51% were males. The annual rate of injury among children <1 year old was 184.4 per 100 000. Seventy-six percent of injuries resulted from a fall from the stroller. A motor vehicle was involved in <1% of cases. Most injuries involved the head (44%) or face (43%). Injury diagnoses included contusions or abrasions (38%), lacerations (24%), closed head injury (22%), and extremity fractures (3%). Two percent of injured children, an estimated 992 (95% CI: 428-1556), were admitted to the hospital during the study period, an annual admission rate of 1.3 per 100 000. Seventy percent of admissions were for head trauma.

CONCLUSIONS
Injuries related to strollers are common, particularly among children in the first year of life. They often result from falls from the stroller. The data suggest that restraint use would prevent many stroller-related injuries.


Analog modeling of geological processes, such as folding instabilities or the behavior of inclusions in a matrix, often employs a linear simple-shear rig. In theory, a homogeneous plane-strain flow is prescribed at the boundaries of such deformation rigs but, in practice, the resulting internal deformation of the analog material (commonly paraffin wax or silicone putties) often deviates strongly from the intended homogeneous strain field. This can easily lead to misinterpretation of such analog experiments. We present a numerical finite-element approach to quantify the influence of imperfect simple-shear boundary conditions on the internal deformation of a homogeneous viscous analog material. The results demonstrate that imperfect boundary conditions in the vorticity-normal plane can cause the heterogeneous strain observed in some analog experiments. However, in other experiments, the analog material lies on top of a weak lubricating material or is sandwiched between two such materials. These layers lead to a viscous drag force acting on the analog material, resulting in imperfect simple-shear boundary conditions in the third dimension. For this experimental configuration, the numerical results show that the lubricating layers are responsible for the heterogeneous strain observed in analog models. The resulting errors in internal strain can be as high as 100%, and these difficult-to-avoid boundary effects must be considered when interpreting analog simple-shear experiments.


BACKGROUND
Inherited human aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH-2) deficiency reduces the risk for alcoholism. Kudzu plants and extracts have been used for 1,000 years in traditional Chinese medicine to treat alcoholism. Kudzu contains daidzin, which inhibits ALDH-2 and suppresses heavy drinking in rodents. Decreased drinking due to ALDH-2 inhibition is attributed to aversive properties of acetaldehyde accumulated during alcohol consumption. However, daidzin can reduce drinking in some rodents without necessarily increasing acetaldehyde. Therefore, a selective ALDH-2 inhibitor might affect other metabolic factors involved in regulating drinking.

METHODS
Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 inhibitors were synthesized based on the co-crystal structure of ALDH-2 and daidzin. We tested the efficacy of a highly selective reversible ALDH-2 inhibitor, CVT-10216, in models of moderate and high alcohol drinking rats. We studied 2-bottle choice and deprivation-induced drinking paradigms in Fawn Hooded (FH) rats, operant self-administration in Long Evans (LE), FH, and inbred P (iP) rats and in cue-induced reinstatement in iP rats. We also assayed blood acetaldehyde levels as well as dopamine (DA) release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and tested possible rewarding/aversive effects of the inhibitor in a conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm.

RESULTS
CVT-10216 increases acetaldehyde after alcohol gavage and inhibits 2-bottle choice alcohol intake in heavy drinking rodents, including deprivation-induced drinking. Moreover, CVT-10216 also prevents operant self-administration and eliminates cue-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking even when alcohol is not available (i.e., no acetaldehyde). Alcohol stimulates DA release in the NAc, which is thought to contribute to increased drinking and relapse in alcoholism. CVT-10216 prevents alcohol-induced increases in NAc DA without changing basal levels. CVT-10216 does not show rewarding or aversive properties in the CPP paradigm at therapeutic doses.

CONCLUSION
Our findings suggest that selective reversible ALDH-2 inhibitors may have therapeutic potential to reduce excessive drinking and to suppress relapse in abstinent alcoholics.


Satellite imagery and data from ground surveys are used to reconstruct the integrated pattern of the principal longitudinal and transverse features produced on a continent-wide scale by the last ice sheets in Europe and North America. From modern analogues, it is argued that most longitudinal features reflect flow in the outer zone of the ice sheet, and that most major transverse features reflect relatively stable ice-sheet margins. These principles are tested and, using them alone, detailed patterns for the decay of the last ice sheets in North America, Europe and the British Isles are produced, and periods during which they attained near steady-states identified. These patterns can be calibrated by dated sequences to yield deglaciation isochrons. Application of glaciological models to these geological reconstructions generates detailed prediction of net ablation for the period of ice-sheet decay and, by using evidence of last glaciation stratigraphy, models of the dynamic behaviour of the ice sheets throughout the last glacial period are constructed. These enable volumetric changes, oceanic isotopic changes and erratic dispersal pathways to be reconstructed. Erratic dispersal patterns give a good indication of the long-term distribution of centres of ice sheet mass. Discrepancies between predicted and empirical oceanic isotopic records indicate ways in which the conventional continental timescale of glacial change must be altered to fit the better-dated deep ocean record. In addition discrepancies between predicted and empirical erratic dispersal patterns suggest that conventional views of ice-sheet behaviour based on high latitude models may be inappropriate to the dynamically more active mid-latitude ice sheets based in large part on deformable sediment beds.


The project consists of experimental and numerical investigation of buoyancydominated flow leading to thermal stratification in ventilated spaces for the range of Re from 4,000 to 50,000 and Rio below 40. In the evolution of turbulence in stratified shear flows, solving for the primitive variables both in time and space is most important. Steady-state Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) simulations have shown in the past to model adequately the flows that become eventually steady-state. Therefore, three-dimensional steady-state CFD models were used to simulate the flow. The experimental set-up used an Environmental Test Chamber to investigate the stratification in buildings. Temperature differential was created by introducing cold air through a terminal at floor level and hot air through a diffuser pointing vertically downwards at the ceiling level. An extract point was located opposite to the inlets at the rear wall. Different combinations of inlet velocities/flow rates, temperatures as well as different arrangements of the exhaust height were studied to evaluate its effect on velocity and temperature distribution and the effect of jet flow interaction with the stratified layers. The experimental data obtained in this work were also used to validate the predictions from the numerical simulations so that CFD was used to perform more parametric simulations. To model turbulence in the flow field, the appropriateness of several eddy-viscosity based turbulence models was evaluated. The turbulence models used were the standard k-c model, the k-e Chen-Kim modified model, a LowRe modification and the RNG k -c model. All models are in close agreement with each other. The buoyancy extended standard k-e model gives a sharper prediction of mixing in the interface. The physics of the flow are well predicted. The hot jet from the ceiling is buoyed up when it reaches the height of the interface where buoyancy forces dominate gravitational forces marking its appearance on the temperature gradient. From the simulations made at this stage, the characteristics of stratified layers are revealed. It is also shown that the interface height is proportional to the exhaust height for certain room temperatures and velocities. In a comparison between experimental results and numerical simulation, the differences are attributed on the non-adiabatic effects such as heat losses and radiation. A correlation is found between inlet parameters and stratified flow in buildings obtained both experimentally and computationally.


Pursuing economic targets of job creation, growth, and innovation while tackling global environmental challenges, has long been seen as impossible. However, any long‐term economic competitiveness and security depends on the extent to which natural resources are used sustainably. Therefore, the European Union is investing in nature‐based solutions to achieve this double goal. The difference between the prevailing economic model and a sustainable resource use has long seemed insurmountable. While many debates are paralyzed or radicalized, nature‐based solutions could offer a transition path with realistic, incremental steps toward a sustainable economy as envisaged by the EU Horizon 2020 vision. This paper outlines the basics of a nature‐based scenario for Europe, and proposes criteria to focus, guide, and evaluate the implementation of nature‐based solutions, geared at production of wide socioeconomic benefits, provision of jobs, and low‐carbon technology innovations.


Fibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a cell-surface serine protease highly expressed on cancer-associated fibroblasts of human epithelial carcinomas but not on normal fibroblasts, normal tissues, and cancer cells. We report herein a novel FAP-triggered photodynamic molecular beacon (FAP-PPB) comprising a fluorescent photosensitizer and a black hole quencher 3 linked by a peptide sequence (TSGPNQEQK) specific to FAP. FAP-PPB was effectively cleaved by both human FAP and murine FAP. By use of the HEK293 transfected cells (HEK-mFAP, FAP(+); HEK-vector, FAP(-)), systematic in vitro and in vivo experiments validated the FAP-specific activation of FAP-PPB in cancer cells and mouse xenografts, respectively. FAP-PPB was cleaved by FAP, allowing fluorescence restoration in FAP-expressing cells while leaving non-expressing FAP cells undetectable. Moreover, FAP-PPB showed FAP-specific photocytotoxicity toward HEK-mFAP cells whereas it was non-cytotoxic toward HEK-Vector cells. This study suggests that the FAP-PPB is a potentially useful tool for epithelial cancer detection and treatment.


This article presents a new method based on multi- objective Pareto ant colony optimization to resolve the joint production and maintenance scheduling problem. This method is applied to the problem previously developed in [2] for the parallel machines case. This problem was formulated according to a bi- objective approach to find trade-off solutions between both objectives of production and maintenance. Reliability Models were used to take into account the maintenance aspect in the model. Two genetic algorithms were compared to approximate the Pareto front. Here, we propose a new algorithm based on Pareto ant colony optimization to improve the solutions quality found in the previous study. The goal is to simultaneously determine the best assignment of production tasks to machines by minimizing the makespan as well as the best periods of preventive maintenance (PM) of the machines by minimizing the unavailability of the production system. The experiments carried out show an improvement of the previous results.


Civic organizations (COs) are neither a good nor a bad thing. They are not inherently fighters for democracy or supporters of authoritarian rule. The way they develop depends on the impact that various forms of state power have on them and on their influence on the state. Vietnamese COs appear to be no exception. When we examine just one direction of these interdependent and reciprocal relations, it becomes clear that under the constraints of the Vietnamese state's infrastructural power many Vietnamese COs develop features of intra-organizational authoritarianism; that they help to embed the state and the Communist Party more deeply within Vietnamese society; and, finally, that they contribute to bringing the society further under the control of the state and the party. However, this occurs to a very different degree depending on the type of CO. NGOs and faith-based organi¬zations in particular, at least in the field of gender norms and practices, seem to resist the state's discursive power. This could imply challenges to the state's and the party's control of politics and society and leads the authors to draw far-reaching conclusions as far as developmental cooperation with and potential support for various types of Vietnamese COs is concerned.


Regulations essential for improving labor standards are often ignored to the detriment of workers. In many countries, the agencies charged with enforcement lack resources and are subject to political interference. How can inspectors in flawed bureaucracies overcome these barriers and enforce labor regulations? In this article, based on case studies of subnational variation in Argentina, the author develops a theory to explain enforcement in places with weak and politicized labor inspectorates. The framework focuses on two factors: the strength of linkages between bureaucrats and allied civil society organizations, and the level of administrative resources in the bureaucracy. Linkages facilitate routinized resource sharing and the construction of pro- enforcement coalitions, and administrative resources determine whether bureaucrats use societal resources passively or strategically. By identifying pathways to enforcement that are obscured by dominant approaches to studying labor inspection, this research opens up new possibilities for crafting strategies to improve labor standards.