This thesis traces the history of the London Round Table group and of the Round Table magazine from their origins in 1909-10 until the decision to launch a "new" Round Table in 1966. It takes as its focus the ideas put forward by members of the group, in the Round Table and elsewhere, on a range of Imperial and international problems. It utilises knowledge on the authorship of Round Table articles in order to clarify the processes by which Round Table policy was made, and the role of different individuals within the group. It examines the role of the Round Table as a pressure group for Imperial reform and in particular its relationship to Empire federalism, seeking to elucidate the extent to which it was able to act coherently, and attempting to describe its aims, methods and influence. On the question of federalism, the thesis finds an inability to agree on details, but also a continuing belief in the necessity for constitutional unit until the late 1940s. It suggests that this belief was not entirely unrealistic. The thesis argues that, despite differences of emphasis, the Round Table was able to develop a distinctive ideology of Imperialism which was strongly supportive of the Imperial role yet also responsive to the need for change. It finds that the group was only briefly influential on government policy, under Lloyd Georfge's administration, but it argues that the group saw its main purpose as that of influencing long-term opinion rather than short-term policy. It suggests that the group was able to play an important mediating role, between conservatism and radicalism, and between policy-making and opinion.


In this paper, we consider the problem of using flying robots to provide internet service to mobile users. Two important aspects are accounted in this context: the robot deployment problem and the relocation problem. Where to deploy the flying robots directly influences the user coverage and the quality of service, and the relocation problem looks for an efficient scheme to relocate the flying robots such that the total moving distance is minimized, with the aim of saving the previous energy resource preloaded on the flying robots. We formulate these two problems and show that the drone deployment problem is a NP-hard problem. Then, we propose a heuristic algorithm to address it. For the relocation problem, we formulate it as the conventional assignment problem and use a liner programming algorithm to solve it. We conduct extensive computer simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.


A silicon tetrachloride reduction in RF-arc-discharge (40.86 MHz) has been experimentally studied. The electrode material significantly affects the composition of the chlorosilanes in the gas phase at the outlet of the reactor which may be attributed to high and at the same time different catalytic activity of Cu, Ni, Nb, and Zr metals belonging to the transition of d-elements and W f-elements of the periodic table. The corrosion has been observed on the electrodes with the formation of chlorides of Cu, Ni, Nb, Zr, and W metals. In the system formed by two electrodes and plasma there are three main reactive regions in which the recovery of silicon tetrachloride by hydrogen at different flows is conducted independently from each other. The analysis of exhaust gases, chemically active plasma and condensed phase by emission-spectroscopy and GCMS spectrometry made it possible to propose the mechanism of formation of observed intermediate species and final products. On the basis of the obtained results we can conclude that this type of RF-plasma discharge includes two mechanisms of plasma chemical reactions: one with the participation of active particles formed in plasma and one initiated by the catalytically-active surface of the electrode.


Cell migration is an essential step in cancer invasion and metastasis. A number of orchestrated cellular events involving tyrosine kinases and signaling receptors enable cancer cells to dislodge from primary tumors and colonize elsewhere in the body. For example, activation of the Src and Abl kinases can mediate events that promote tumor cell migration. Also, activation of the Robo1 receptor can induce tumor cell migration. However, while the importance of Src, Abl, and Robo1 in cell migration have been demonstrated, molecular mechanisms by which they collectively influence cell migration have not been clearly elucidated. In addition, little is known about mechanisms that control Robo1 expression. We report here that Src activates Abl to stabilize Robo1 in order to promote cell migration. Inhibition of Abl kinase activity by siRNA or kinase blockers decreased Robo1 protein levels and suppressed the migration of transformed cells. We also provide evidence that Robo1 utilizes Cdc42 and Rac1 GTPases to induce cell migration. In addition, inhibition of Robo1 signaling can suppress transformed cell migration in the face of robust Src and Abl kinase activity. Therefore, inhibitors of Src, Abl, Robo1 and small GTPases may target a coordinated pathway required for tumor cell migration.


We consider a two-queue model with state-dependent setups, in which a single server alternately serves the two queues. The high-priority queue is served exhaustively, whereas the low-priority queue is served according to the k-limited strategy. A setup at a queue is incurred only if there are customers waiting at the polled queue. We obtain the transforms of the queue length and sojourn time distributions under the assumption of Poisson arrivals, generally distributed service times, and generally distributed setup times. The interest for this model is fueled by an application in the field of logistics. It is shown how the results of this analysis can be applied in the evaluation of a stochastic two-item single-capacity production system. From these results we can conclude that significant cost reductions are possible by bounding the production runs of the low-priority item, which indicates the potential of the k-limited service discipline as priority rule in production environments.


Colour is a visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, yellow, blue, etc. Science tells us that the way your food looks is almost as important as how it tastes but this is true for the foods that are naturally colourful or the foods coloured with natural dyes. Considering the aesthetic sense, foods have been coloured naturally as well as artificially since long. Ultimate acceptance of artificial colour loaded foods by consumers has favoured tremendous increase in utilisation of synthetic dyes in the market. The bad side of their toxicity is however forgotten many a times. Millions of people are also using hair dyes to improve their appearance and colourful festivals like 'Holi'(festival of colours in India) has no limits on sprinkling and colouring the body, thus leading to health and ecological problems.In present study, the possible carcinogenicity of the synthetic food colours, hair dyes, and 'Holi' colour is tested through genotoxicity on Salmonella typhimurium TA100 strain. In our findings,hair dyes and food colours after S9 metabolic activation were proved to be mutagenic and statistically significant at p<0.05.


The aim of this study is to apply wet granulation on liquisolid powders to overcome issues of poor powder flowability and compressibility especially with using high viscosity liquid vehicles. Different liquisolid formulations were made using three excipients where the effect of each excipient used in the dissolution of the model hydrophobic drug (Glibenclamide) was evaluated. The Glibenclamide tablets were formulated using PEG 400, Synperonic PE/L44 and Cremophor ELP, at a 10 %w/w in liquid vehicle drug concentration. The carrier (Avicel®PH102) was used followed by colloidal silicon dioxide (coating material) that converted the wet mixture into dry powder. Potato starch, 5%w/w, as a disintegrant was mixed with the mixture manually for 10 minutes and was finalized by adding 0.75% of magnesium stearate as a lubricant. The final powder (depending on its flowability and compactability) was then compacted automatically using a single-punch tableting machine to give tablets with 4mg unit drug dose. Prepared liquisolid compacts were characterised via B.P. quality control tests. In this study, a novel discovery was achieved to overcome the major problems with liquisolid preparations (flowability and compactability). This new technique is the wet granulation process to be applied with liquisolid powders just before the compaction stage of the powders into tablets. Consequently, it was found that by application of wet granulation to liquisolid powder admixture, the large-scale production of liquisolid compacts is feasible and can be easily applied by pharmaceutical industry. As with some liquisolid vehicles especially high viscosity although very good to enhance dissolution usually formulations are studied in powder forms [1,2].


The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of various types of wax-coatings, and container liners on the physicochemical characters of Pakistani mandarins (Feutrellt's Early-and Kinnows) during postharvest storage at ordinary room conditions. Changes in citrus volatiles and free amino acids were studied to test their suitability as chemical quality/senescence indices and correlations between physico chemical and organoleptic characters of mandarins were also computed. Literature pertaining to fresh citrus fruits external (rots, physiological disorders, blemishes) and internal (total soluble solids (TSS), acid, TSS/acid, juice content, volatiles, free amino acids) quality characters was surveyed. Preharvest and harvest factors (rootstock, tree condition, soil, climate, weather, production area, harvesting season, garden treatments (water management, fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, growth regulators, colour enhancer, internal quality modifier) ,picking methods and postharvest treatments(washing, grading, degreening, precooling, curing, conditioning, decay control techniques (fungicides, fumigation, growth regulators, heat treatment, irradiation, citrus volatiles), controlled atmosphere storage, waxing, packaging, container lining, packing, containerization) affecting the postharvest quality and storage behaviour of citrus fruits have been reviewed.

Effect of various postharvest treatments was studied in five citrus crops (1976-77,1977-78,1979-80,1982-83,1983-84) in early, mid and late season harvests. Feutrell's were picked in November, December and January whereas kinnows were procured in January, February, March and April. The salient features of these findings are summarized below: Polyethylene (PE) lining (0.030 mm) was the most effective treatment followed by waxing (with Fruitex, Britex561 and Seal Britex-56) and cellophane lining (0.030 mm) for reducing weight loss of both the mandarins during storage at room conditions as compared to newspaper lining (0.093 mm), but waxpaper lining (0.024 mm) had no such effect. Even in severe storage conditions (23-360C, 47.0-76.5 % RH) these treatments were effective in retarding moisture loss from citrus fruits. There did not seem to be any relationship between weight loss and time of picking in both the cultivars, however, weight loss seemed to be closely related to the conditions of storage environment (temperature, humidity). Behaviour of Feutrell's Early and kinnow mandarins was almost similar during postharvest storage as for as weight loss was concerned.

Wax-coatings of various types and different container liners had no significant effect on internal quality characters like ascorbic acid, acidity and sugar/acid ratio of both the mandarins during postharvest storage at room conditions. Waxed mandarins of both the cultivars in some harvests contained less sugar than that of control fruits; however, this effect of waxing on sugar contents was inconsistent and variable. As for as the effect of storage was concerned, there was significant decrease in acidity and ascorbic acid and significant increase in reducing, non reducing, total sugars and sugar/acid ratio decrease in sugar contents during storage could be mainly 1ue to time of picking and postharvest storage temperatures.

Ascorbic acid and acidity contents were higher in early picked Feutrell's Early and kinnow mandarins whereas sugar contents and sugar/acid ratios were higher in late picked fruits. Changes in chemical constituents of early and late picked Feutrell's early mandarins during storage were almost comparable. Decrease in ascorbic acid and acidity was comparable in early and late picked kinnows but the changes in sugar con tents were variable. Decrease in sugar contents during age of late picked kinnows could be due to two reasons. Changes which were to start in storage might have commenced on the tree and high postharvest storage temperature (23-36°0) might have caused abnormal respiration. Feutrellts Early mandarins contained more ascorbic acid than kinnows, but acidity, sugars and sugar/acid ratio were higher in kinnows.

Regression analysis studies indicated that correlations between external quality characters (external appearance and firmness) and weight loss of control and treated mandarins of both the cultivars were negative and highly significant. Since weight loss was negatively, correlated with external characters, fruits which were either waxed or packed in containers lined with PE or cellophane films were given significantly more scores for appearance and firmness than those stored in boxes lined with either newspaper or waxpaper sheets. PE lining being the most effective treatment in the present studies to retard weight loss proved more effective for preserving the external characters than cellophane lining. However, waxing was comparable as this treatment gave an additional shine to the skin of mandarins. A problem encountered in case of FE lining was moisture condensation on the surface of mandarins which could encourage microbial growth and increase rot incidence. Earlier deterioration in external characters of late picked kinnows could be due to high temperature and low humidity of storage (23-36°0, 47.0-76.5 % RH).

Waxing with Fruitex (indigenous wax) resulted in off flavour development when Feutrell's Early and Kinnow mandarins were stored at ordinary room conditions. Hence, waxed fruits got less score in organoleptic evaluation tests as compared to control fruits. Dilution of Fruitex or use of commercial exotic waxes (Britex-561 and Seal Britex-56) and their diluted formulations could not solve this problem. No such problem of off-flavour development was encountered in fruits packed in boxes lined with different types of packaging material. Probable reasons for earlier onset of off-flavour development and lower flavour scores for control as well as treated lots in late harvestea kinnows was time of picking and high storage temperature (23-360C). Cellophane as a lining material in the present studies proved superior to waxing and other lining materials tested. It retarded weight loss and retained normal flavour of mandarins during storage at room conditions, hence preserved both the external as well as internal quality characters. Moreover, there was no problem of moisture condensation on fruit surface as happened in case of PE lining.

Maximum changes during 5 week storage (16-220C) of waxed and cellophane lined Feutrell's early mandarins occurred in ethanol contents which were followed by acetaldehyde, TSS/ acid ratio, TSS and acidity. Regression analysis revealed that correlation between TSS and flavour scores was non significant (r--O.373), relationship between TSS/acid ratios and flavour scores was linear and negative (y.--O.697), and that of total acids and flavour scores was linear but positive (r-O.740). There was a negative and highly significant linear relationship between ethanol contents and flavour scores (r--O.967) and acetaldehyde oontents and flavour scores (r--O.986). The coefficients of determination (r2) of flavour scores versus acetaldehyde, ethanol, total acids and TSS/acid ratio were 0.97, 0.94, 0.55 and 0.48, respectively. This indicates that above 90 variations in flavour scores can be explained by changes in ethanol and acetaldehyde contents whereas only about 50 % of variation in flavour scores can be predicted by changes in total acids and TSS/acid ratios. More changes in ethanol contents as compared to other internal chemical characters studied and its stronger correlation with flavour scores during storage of Feutrell's erarly mandarins prove its superiority as a chemical quality indicator during postharvest citrus fruit handling studies.

Comparatively more increase in ethanol and acetaldehyde, less increase in TSS and more decrease in total acids of waxed Feutrell's early mandarins could be due to anaerobic respiration during storage at room conditions. The ratio of ethanol and acetaldehyde (E/A) of waxed mandarins was also higher during storage than those of control or cellophane lined fruits. The E/A ratio gives an indication of oxidation-reduction state of coenzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) in plant tissues. During fruit maturation and senescence both E/A and NADH2/NAD have been reported to increase. Furthermore, a number of NAD-dependent oxidation reactions in orange juice vesicles have been reported to be depressed when the Redox ratio was increased. Similarly, flavour changes during storage in waxed mandarins with high E/A ratios in the present case might have been due to lowered activity of NAD-dependent oxidative reactions. The decrease in citric acid contents during storage of Feutrell's Early mandarins correlated to increase in E/A ratio at 1 % level of significance (r = O.75). Since the formation of oxaloacetic acid (the precursor of citric acid in Krebs cycle) requires the NAD-dependent oxidation of malic acid, this stronger linear relationship between these two variables indicates that citric acid metabolism is affected, and strengthens the hypothesis that NAD ratio is important in controlling metabolic pathways in citrus fruits.

Free amino acids identified in fresh kinnow juice in decreasing order of concentration were serine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, arginine, threonine, proline, lysine, alanine, valine, cystine, glycine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, histidine, leucine, isoleucine and methionine. Preliminary investigations revealed that there was no effect of waxing on free amino acids of kinnows. However, there was a considerable decrease in most of the amino acids during postharvest storage at room conditions. Further studies are needed in this direction to understand the metabolism of free amino acids and their relation to internal quality deterioration during postharvest handling of citrus fruits.


Abstract.
 Ceratodontid lungfishes are generally rare, poorly represented elements of North America's Mesozoic ecosystems, with previously known maximum diversity in the Late Jurassic. Herein we describe four new species of the form genus Ceratodus, from the Cretaceous of the Western Interior, considerably expanding fossil representation of post-Triassic dipnoans in North America. To model taxonomic and morphologic diversity, we adopt a four-fold system of phenetically based species groups, named for exemplars from the Morrison Formation. Ceratodus kirklandi n. sp. (Potamoceratodus guentheri group) and C. kempae n. sp. (C. frazieri group) represent a hitherto unsampled time interval, the Valanginian. Ceratodus nirumbee n. sp. and C. molossus n. sp. extend the temporal ranges of the C. fossanovum and C. robustus groups upward to the Albian and Cenomanian, respectively. These new occurrences show that ceratodontids maintained their highest diversity from the Late Jurassic through the mid-Cretaceous (Albian—Cenomanian), an interval of ∼60 Myr. The existing record suggests that some of the later (mid-Cretaceous) ceratodontids may have been tolerant of salt water; to date, there is no evidence that they aestivated. Only a few occurrences are known from horizons younger than Cenomanian. Demise of ceratodontids appears to be part of a broader pattern of turnover that occurred at the Cenomanian-Turonian boundary in North America.


In this article, the author, one of the co-authors of a seminal article in the tax-sensitive investment field, explains why tax-efficient investing is much easier said than done. He starts with a short history of tax-efficient investing, identifying the significant drag associated with taxes. He then returns to the thesis that keeping turnover low is critical to avoiding unnecessary taxes, arguing that many managers may be overstating their ability to create after-tax alpha. He bases that contention on two real-life experiences, which he recounts and where managers proved unable to deliver. He then turns to the issues of style, suggesting that value may not be suitable to taxable investors, and diversification, suggesting that it may only come at a great cost to investors, in particular pointing to the risks associated with the creation of a stable of specialized managers. He concludes with the proposition that a taxable investor should forget about benchmarking and tracking error considerations.


Thirty patients with hairy cell leukemia were treated with recombinant interferon alpha-A (rIFN alpha A; Roferon-A); seven were previously untreated. Nine complete and 17 partial remissions were documented by bone marrow core biopsies. All patients' peripheral blood hematologic indexes either improved or normalized. Twelve of 13 patients with retroperitoneal or mediastinal adenopathy obtained remissions of tumor masses. All seven patients with splenomegaly showed prompt reduction in the size of the spleen to normal size. The incidence of complete remissions was significantly higher (P = .02) in previously untreated patients (5 of 7) than in those in whom splenectomy had been performed (4 of 23), a result presumed to be related to the pretreatment tumor burden. rIFN alpha A was well tolerated; mild fatigue was the most frequent complaint. In most patients, tumor remissions resulted in an improved quality of life: they eliminated the need for transfusing blood products and reduced the incidence of infections, and immune deficits were apparently restored in some of the patients. We conclude that rIFN alpha A is an effective therapy for all stages of hairy cell leukemia including previously untreated or newly diagnosed patients.


Background: On March 24, India ordered a 3-week nationwide lockdown in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19. While the lockdown has been effective, our model suggests that completely ending the lockdown after three weeks could have considerable adverse public health ramifications. We extend our individual-level model for COVID-19 transmission to study the disease dynamics in India at the state level for Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh to estimate the effect of further lockdown policies in each region. Specifically, we test policies which alternate between total lockdown and simple physical distancing to find "middle ground" policies that can provide social and economic relief as well as salutary population-level health effects.

Methods: We use an agent-based SEIR model that uses population-specific age distribution, household structure, contact patterns, and comorbidity rates to perform tailored simulations for each region. The model is first calibrated to each region using publicly available COVID-19 death data, then implemented to simulate a range of policies. We also compute the basic reproduction number R0 and case documentation rate for both regions.

Results: After the initial lockdown, our simulations demonstrate that even policies that enforce physical distancing while otherwise returning to normal activity could lead to widespread outbreaks in both states. However, "middle ground" policies that alternate weekly between total lockdown and physical distancing may lead to much lower rates of infection while simultaneously permitting some return to normalcy.


In 1995 the Manic Street Preachers played their last show as a four piece before their rhythm guitarist and "minister for propaganda" Richey Edwards disappeared on the advent of a US tour. Although his body was never found, his car was discovered at the Severn bridge. It was assumed Edwards had committed suicide. In order to explore the troubled guitarist's mysterious last days, fifteen years later in a novel called Richard the music journalist Ben Myers wrote a fictionalized first-person account of Richey's life story. This article assesses Richard as a perceived act of literary impersonation by focusing on the way its author positioned himself as a fan and also on how fans and reviewers responded to the book. Addressing ideas such as parasocial interaction and mythologization, the piece shows that the "cult of Richey" apprehended Richard's author as an unwelcome textual poacher. Fans challenged both Myers' motives and the accuracy of his portrayal. We argue that rather than dismissing them as irrational, blind loyalists who cling to the false belief that they know the actual person, fans should be studied as individuals who use their accumulated knowledge to serve shared ethical concerns.


N-methylputrescine oxidase (MPO) is a member of the diamine oxidase (DAO) class of enzymes believed to be responsible for synthesis of the alkaloid nicotine in the roots of Nicotiana tabacum (Mizusaki et al., 1972). A purportedly pure MPO protein from tobacco root culture extracts was used to generate immune antiserum in rabbits (McLauchlan et al., 1993). In an attempt to clone a cDNA encoding MPO, we used this antiserum to screen a tobacco cDNA expression library. Unexpectedly, two previously unreported genes with strong homology to members of a gene family encoding S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (SAHH) in N. sylvestris and a gene encoding SAHH in N. tabacum were cloned instead. SAHH is an enzyme of the S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) recycling pathway, which also includes SAM synthetase (SAMS) and methionine synthase (MS). These results led to the hypothesis of a multi-enzyme complex, or metabolon, of at least one member of the nicotine biosynthesis pathway, i.e., MPO, and at least one member of the SAM recycling pathway, i.e., SAHH, during nicotine biosynthesis. Metabolons are stable noncovalent complexes in cells that ensure sufficient passage of the product of one enzyme reaction to the next enzyme in the pathway via a "channel" without equilibrating with the bulk solution (Ovádi, 1991). My research employed co-immunoprecipitation studies to determine if other SAM recycling enzymes are associated in a complex with MPO and SAHH, as well as Northern and Western blot analyses to determine if the genes encoding SAM recycling pathway enzymes are coordinately regulated during nicotine biosynthesis. Our results indicate that nicotine biosynthesis-inducing conditions result in differential mRNA accumulation patterns of the three enzymes of the SAM recycling pathway, although to different extents. However, protein levels of SAM recycling pathway members do not appear to reflect the differential mRNA accumulation patterns. We have firmly established an association of SAHH and an enzyme with DAO activity, purportedly MPO. If the enzyme is proven to be MPO, then our data would constitute the first documentation of an alkaloid metabolon. Finally, using a degenerate primer PCR approach, we have cloned a 986-bp gene fragment with homology to copper amine oxidases, the class to which MPO belongs.


Nanoparticles emitted from road traffic are the largest source of respiratory exposure for the general public living in urban areas. It has been suggested that adverse health effects of airborne particles may scale with airborne particle number, which if correct, focuses attention on the nanoparticle (less than 100 nm) size range which dominates the number count in urban areas. Urban measurements of particle size distributions have tended to show a broadly similar pattern dominated by a mode centred on 20–30 nm diameter emitted by diesel engine exhaust. In this paper we report the results of measurements of particle number concentration and size distribution made in a major London park as well as on the BT Tower, 160 m aloft. These measurements taken during the REPARTEE project (Regents Park and BT Tower experiment) show a remarkable shift in particle size distributions with major losses of the smallest particle class as particles are advected away from the traffic source. In the Park, the traffic related mode at 20–30 nm diameter is much reduced with a new mode at <10 nm. Size distribution measurements also revealed higher number concentrations of sub-50 nm particles at the BT Tower during days affected by higher turbulence as determined by Doppler Lidar measurements and are indicative of loss of nanoparticles from air aged during less turbulent conditions. These results are suggestive of nanoparticle loss by evaporation, rather than coagulation processes. The results have major implications for understanding the impacts of traffic-generated particulate matter on human health.


where a fine net of detailed regulations controls virtually everything you do in the course of everyday life, from driving a car to hiring employees to building a house; where for a host of purposes you have to fill in forms and answer personal questions from bureaucrats; where, say, a third of what the people produce and earn is seized in taxes, and you have to file and sign periodic income reports; where people are conceived of as "human resources" the state can draw upon; where there is a very powerful permanent army; where the people have been disarmed; where you need permits to engage in many economic activities; where the authorities decide what you may consume and even, in some cases, read; where your identity is basically defined by official identification papers, and the government even issues you a number that defines you as a citizen; where the state circumvents the rule of law with complicated and abstruse legislation that most citizens do not know and cannot understand; where the majority apparently assents to all this in formal elections, but a large bureaucracy and an entrenched political class actually rule.


BACKGROUND AND AIM: Although admission hyperglycemia has been reported to
be associated with unfavorable outcomes in acute stroke, little is known about this association
in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess
the prognostic significance of admission hyperglycemia in the acute phase of
stroke in Congolese patients. METHODS: In a multicenter prospective cohort study, consecutive patients
with acute stroke were examined in 5 Emergency Rooms or
Intensive Care Units of Kinshasa between July 15th, 2017 and March 15th,
2018. The severity of stroke was assessed at admission using the Glasgow Coma
Scale. Stress hyperglycemia was defined as random blood glucose levels at admission > 140 mg/dL in patients without
known type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The endpoint was 10-day all-cause in-hospital mortality. Survival
(time-to-death) curves were built using the Kaplan Meier methods. Cox
proportional analysis was used to identify predictors of 10-day all-cause in-hospital
mortality. The predictive performance of blood glucose level to predict 10-day all-cause
in-hospital mortality was assessed using ROC curve analysis. RESULTS: Out of 194
patients (mean age 58.7 ± 13.1 years; 64% males, 74.7% light to moderate stroke severity; 63.4%
ischemic stroke) enrolled, 106 (54.6%) had admission hyperglycemia with 77
(72.6%) having stress hyperglycemia. Ninety four deaths (48.5%); mortality rate of 6
deaths per 100 person-days (95%CI 2.7 - 9.3) occurred during a
median follow up time 6 (5 - 7) days equivalent to 1542 person-days. Independent
predictors of 10-day all-cause in-hospital mortality were admission
hyperglycemia regardless of diabetes status (aHR 3.77; 95%CI 1.92 - 7.42; p - 5.23; p = 0.001) and
non-use of mechanical ventilation (aHR 1.97; 95%CI 1.05 - 3.70; p = 0.034).
Blood glucose concentrations (AUC 0.743; 95%CI 0.672 - 0.814) had a better predictive performance
for 10-day all-cause in-hospital mortality with an optimal value of 154 mg/dL
(sensitivity 76.6% and specificity 70%). CONCLUSION: More than
half of critically ill stroke patients exhibit admission hyperglycemia that
impacts negatively on their survival in the acute phase
highlighting thus the need for a better blood glucose control to improve
outcomes.


The strategies of natural history are distancing ones, and, since Michel Foucault's The Order of Things, the genre has been the subject of powerful modes of distanced reading.  A corollary, perhaps, is that any instance of natural history writing, and especially, any single entry in a natural history compilation, can seem closed to "close" reading:  in the field guide as in the taxonomic systems that inform its organization, the highly codified general descriptor, structurally equivalent to every other general descriptor in the set, swallows up the situated, the particular, the near. Within this arena, John Clare's natural history writing is, in Sara Guyer's phrase, "hyperbolically local." Readers have variously praised Clare's writing on natural subjects for its decentering of an anthropomorphizing perspective, for its mimetic fidelity to an experienced local environment, for what has been described as its proto-environmental or –ecological awareness.  This essay pursues the forms of local attentiveness displayed in Clare's natural history writing in a different direction, to explore how his work engages in close, critical readings of the operations of natural history. My essay tracks Clare's pursuit of two odd birds, "the" butter bump and "a" magpie, each of which makes a "strange noise" that reverberates through its world, traversing borders, confounding equivalencies, and sounding both the power and the limits of an already-arrived natural order of things.


The Mi-1 glaciation (ca. 23 Ma), which marks the Oligocene-Miocene boundary, was an aberrant cooling event that led to a build-up of the Antarctic ice sheet, which reached the near-modern volume (or greater) from its ephemeral or partial existence. An increase of ∼1‰ in the δ18O of benthic foraminifera during this interval has been attributed to the development of Antarctic ice sheets and deep-water cooling. Without definitive evidence, Northern Hemisphere (NH) glaciation has not been a material consideration for the δ18O increase. Here we investigate the interhemispheric temperature contrast during Mi-1, with the movement of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) at a site (10°31′N) in the East Pacific (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Site U1333), to understand NH cooling and the possibility of NH glaciation. The measured 143Nd/144Nd, 87Sr/86Sr, and clay mineral compositions of eolian dust fractions indicate unequivocally the deposition of Asian dust during Mi-1, and of Central American and South American dust before and after Mi-1. This is attributed to the southward displacement of the ITCZ over Site U1333 during Mi-1. The ITCZ shifts toward the warmer hemisphere. Thus our results suggest that the cooling during Mi-1 was more significant in the NH than in the Southern Hemisphere, which underwent a sudden expansion of continental ice sheets. Our data call for a forcing mechanism to drive significant NH cooling during this episode. Based on the available data, we propose that the widespread growth of NH ice sheets and/or changes in the production of North Atlantic–origin deep water could be possible causes of the NH cooling at that time.


Conservation and management strategies are dependent on reliable species richness information. Accurate species richness counts, especially for invertebrates, are almost impossible to obtain from sampling alone, due to the high costs and effort involved. Therefore, there is a great need to optimize sampling effort to gain maximum information from minimum sampling duration and intensity. Reliable species richness information is particularly critical for under-studied, high diversity regions, such as the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), where biodiversity is threatened by agricultural practices and urbanization. Ants (Formicidae) form an important part of the fauna of the CFR, especially as seed dispersers. This study investigated sampling effort options for maximizing ant species representivity in the region. The specific aims were to determine (i) whether a doubling in the sample duration significantly increased the number of species captured (ii) the effect of increased spatial versus temporal sampling effort on diversity estimates and (iii) the effect of adding an additional trapping method. Sampling was conducted at Elandsberg, Western Cape Province, from 20 February to 1 March 2004. Pitfall trapping was conducted in two five-day sessions and tuna-baits were used once. Species rarefaction curves were drawn and compared using EstimateS. A total of 42 species were captured and asymptotes to species richness were reached. Doubling of sample duration yielded no significant increase in species richness and was equally affected in terms of number of species as was doubling the sampling intensity. However, increasing the number of spatial replicates yielded a higher turnover in species. Baiting added no additional species to pitfall catches. Therefore, when sampling ant diversity in the CFR, investing sampling effort within seasons in spatial replication is likely to be more effective than increasing sampling duration.


The Why, What, and How of enterprise cloud adoption--a clear framework and proven best practices from Microsoft's own experience "Great book. What's particularly impressive is the outline of steps Microsoft itself is taking in its move to the cloud. Do as I do is always more powerful than do as I say." -- Al Ries, Co-author, War in the Boardroom "This book takes on enterprise cloud adoption to a level I've not seen before--made even more elegant with its structured framework and crisp approach." -- Anthony D. Christie, CMO, Level 3 Communications, Former CTO/CIO, Global Crossing "A practical and timely guide that covers the entire journey to the cloud from an enterprise perspective including business, technology, and organizational impact." -- Bart Luijten, CIO Corporate Functions & Corporate Technology, Philips "To the Cloud is recommended reading for any CXO who wants to understand the cloud--what it means, what it can do for their business, and more importantly, how to implement it in their organization. The authors have done an excellent job clearly explaining a complex topic, which will surely help this book's readers readily embrace the many benefits the cloud can provide." -- Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft International "The cloud powers business solutions for building tomorrow's enterprise and this book offers a simple, well-structured, and high-level process map for cloud adoption."-- Kris Gopalakrishnan, Executive Co-Chairman, Infosys Limited "To the Cloud is a boon for CEOs evaluating the information technology needs of an organization. The easy-to-understand tone, tables, charts, and visuals allows non-techies to grasp concepts and decide how the cloud can benefit an organization--going a long way in helping a CEO decipher the language of the CIO!" -- Rajesh Dalal, Former CEO, Johnson & Johnson Medical India "To the Cloud is a practical and timely primer, clarifying the concepts and many paths to the cloud. The cloud will elevate IT to a new plane--one which is transformational and plug-and-play--and the authors paint a vision of how it can help realize long-elusive IT productivity gains. Simply put, To the Cloud brings cloud computing down to earth." -- Ravi Kastia, Global Head, Aditya Birla Group Cloud computing is full of tremendous opportunity, but is also riddled with hype and confusion. Business and technology leaders know the cloud is essential, but they lack clarity and experience. To the Cloud cuts through the noise and addresses the Why, What, and How of enterprise cloud adoption. This unique guide lays out a four-step framework, leveraging the experience and best practices of Microsofts own IT group. The book delivers end-to-end business and technology guidance, describing how to analyze application portfolios to identify good cloud candidates, choose the right cloud models, consider architecture and security, and understand how shifting operations to the cloud affects budgeting and staffing. Applicable to all cloud platforms and providers, this practical resource debunks myths, revealing that real clouds are more than just web hosting, virtualization, or the Internet itself rebranded. It takes a balanced approach, addressing concerns and hybrid adoption scenarios alike. Based on the authors proven expertise working for Microsofts CIO on cloud migration and with cloud platform development teams, the book is supported by clear frameworks, graphics, tables, summaries, and checklists to provide a true practitioners guide to the cloud. To the Cloud helps you: Explore cloud computing to understand its promise and challenges Envision how cloud computing can transform your organization Enable your organization with the necessary resources and skills Execute the design, development, and operation of cloud workloads To the Cloud is essential for IT professionals seeking to lower total cost of ownership, improve the return on IT investment of existing services, and help the business bring new products to market more quickly.


ABSTRACT Using an interdisciplinary model of financial planning, we investigated the factors contributing to perceived adequacy of retirement savings among Hong Kong workers by replicating a previous study of American and Dutch workers. The model was also tested for age differences in the way in which the variables operated within the model. These questions were examined using data from a phone survey conducted with 999 Hong Kong workers in 2012. We examined three psychological factors (future time orientation, goal clarity and financial knowledge), three social support variables (early learning from parents, spousal support and friend support) and three institutional factors (quality of employer pensions, trust in banks and fund managers, and trust in the government), as well as retirement savings planning activity and perceived retirement savings adequacy. Path analyses were used to test the model for the whole sample and separately for younger (N=437) and older (N=562) workers. Although a few age differences were found in the path analyses, the model was found to be useful in explaining the factors contributing to retirement savings planning and practices. Finally, we discuss how our findings differ from those of prior studies, and we assess their theoretical and practical implications.


The childhood overweight and obesity epidemic has become a global emergency in public health and a crucial challenge of the twenty-first century. Nowadays, childhood and adolescent obesity represent a significant public health problem both in developing and developed countries. Globally, above 340 million children and adolescents aged 5–19 years were overweight or obese in 2016. Childhood obesity is a critical burden because it can be associated with a higher possibility of obesity, premature death, and disability in adults, as well as early markers of cardiovascular disease. In Europe, childhood obesity remains a significant health challenge and is distributed disparately across and between countries and population groups. In 2019, over 398,000 children aged 6–9 years were severely obese in Europe. Particularly, Southern European countries such as Greece, Italy, Malta, San Marino, and Spain had one in five children obese in 2018. In Europe, different initiatives and actions have been launched in recent years to fight childhood obesity. However, the progress on combating obesity in children has been slow and inconsistent across the region. In this chapter, we have discussed the prevalence of obesity in children and existing policies to combat childhood obesity in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region.


Many people focus on research of computing cloud platform technology, but few people know management about cloud platform. In this article, it takes agri-product logistics as a case, discusses how to build synergetic management system of agri-product logistics based on cloud service platform from its layers and mechanism view. The synergetic management system can be divided into 3 layers: strategy layer, operation layer and support layer. And its mechanism includes the self-organizing mechanism, negotiation mechanism, trust mechanism, interest mechanism and punishment mechanism etc. It can improve efficiency of the agri-product logistics by synergetic management system based on cloud service platform.


It is generally believed that most T2-weighted (T2) lesions in the central white matter of patients with multiple sclerosis begin with a variable period of T1-weighted (T1) gadolinium (Gd) enhancement and that T1 Gd-enhancing and T2 lesions represent stages of a single pathological process. Lesion probability maps can be used to test this hypothesis by providing a quantitative description of the spatial distribution of these two types of lesions across a patient population. The simplest prediction of this hypothesis would be that the spatial distributions of T1 Gd-enhancing and T2 lesions are identical. We generated T1 Gd-enhancing and T2 lesion probability maps from 19 patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. There was a significantly higher probability (P = 0.001) for T2 lesions to be found in the central relative to the peripheral white matter (risk ratio 4.5), although the relative distribution of T1 Gd-enhancing lesions was not significantly different (P = 0.7) between central and peripheral white matter regions (risk ratio 0.6). Longitudinal data on the same population were used to demonstrate a similar distribution asymmetry between new T1 Gd-enhancing and new T2 lesions that developed over the course of 1 year. Alternative hypotheses to explain this observation were tested. We found no spatial difference in the likelihood of development of persistent T2 lesions following T1 Gd enhancement. The relative distribution of T1 Gd-enhancing lesions was shown to be independent of the dose of Gd contrast agent and the frequency of scanning. Our findings suggest that a proportion of the periventricular T2 lesion volume may arise from mechanisms other than those associated with early breakdown of the blood-brain barrier leading to T1 Gd enhancement.


Institutional suggestions for how to rethink democracy in response to changing state responsibilities and capabilities have been numerous and often mutually incompatible. This suggests that conceptual unclarity still reigns concerning how the normative ideal of democracy as collective self-determination, i.e. 'rule by the people', might best be brought to bear in a transnational and global context. The aim in this paper is twofold. First, it analyses some consequences of the tendency to smudge the distinction between democratic theory and moral theories of legitimacy and justice. Second, it develops a conceptual framework that distinguishes between necessary conditions, aspects and aims of democracy. On this basis it specifies three objectives of democracy, some of which may also hold for multilevel governance. It is argued that there are in principle at least three reasons to value democratic institutions: they are intrinsically justified to the extent that they distribute fair shares of political influence over decision-making; they are instrumentally justified to the extent that they secure several of our other best interests, one of which is our interest in non-domination; and finally, they are also instrumentally justified insofar as they secure the just distribution of other goods. The aim of this framework is not to develop a specific theory of multilevel governance but to point at important distinctions to be made and normative criteria to be specified. The intention is to take the debate forward by noting some of the issues that any satisfactory account must address. The framework lays out the grounds for analysing the institutional challenges facing legitimate multilevel governance through what is speculatively called 'multiple citizenship', understood in explorative terms, opening the door for the manifold roles that citizens could and ought to play in multilevel governance, not only as democratic agents, but also as agents of democracy and agents of justice.


Dynamical Ginzburg–Landau theory is applied to the study of thermal effects of motion of interfaces that appear after different phase transitions. These effects stem from the existence of the surface thermodynamic properties and temperature gradients in the interfacial transition region. Thermal effects may be explained by the introduction of a new thermodynamic force exerted on the interface, called here Gibbs–Duhem force, and the internal energy density flux through the interface. The evolution equations for the interfacial motion are derived. For the experimental verification of the thermal effects during continuous ordering the expression is derived for the amplitude of temperature waves.


Today, Web search is treated as a solitary experience. Web browsers and search engines are typically designed to support a single user, working alone. However, collaboration on information-seeking tasks is actually commonplace. Students work together to complete homework assignments, friends seek information about joint entertainment opportunities, family members jointly plan vacation travel, and colleagues jointly conduct research for their projects. As improved networking technologies and the rise of social media simplify the process of remote collaboration, and large, novel display form-factors simplify the process of co-located group work, researchers have begun to explore ways to facilitate collaboration on search tasks. This lecture investigates the who, what, where, when and why of collaborative search, and gives insight in how emerging solutions can address collaborators' needs. Table of Contents: Introduction / Who? / What? / Where? / When? / Why? / Conclusion: How?


ABSTRACT Arthur Okun famously argued that "effciency is bought at the cost of inequalities in income and wealth". Okun's trade-off represents the antithesis to Karl Polanyi's view of the relationship that the more embedded markets are in society, the better the social and economic outcomes they produce. This paper refines both these views. We argue that not all forms of market embeddedness are created equal, and that the relationship between equality and efficiency can be both positive and negative. We show this by examining how different ways of embedding economic activity in society through market regulation produce different combinations of efficiency and equality. We identify empirically three broad patterns: market liberal regulatory frameworks that promote competitive markets without decommodifying institutions; embedded liberal regulations that allow markets to work efficiently, but within the framework of decommodification and equality; and embedded illiberalism, where regulations hinder markets in favor of powerful social groups and where decommodification undermines both efficiency and equality. Okun's trade-off emerges as a special case limited to the English-speaking democracies: other OECD countries tend to exhibit either efficiency and equality together, or inefficiency and inequality together. These findings suggest a corrective to both nave market liberal views of the incompatibility of efficiency and equality, but also to the more sophisticated Varieties of Capitalism framework, which pays insufficient attention to the ways in which markets can be embedded in stable but apparently dysfunctional institutional arrangements.


Palynological studies of sedimentary sequences issued from swamps located in the highlands of the KBNP (Kahuzi-Biega National Park) on the western divide of Kivu in Eastern D.R. Congo, revealed important environmental events that occurred during Upper Quaternary. The Cishaka sequence covers the last 35000 years. In the Upper Pleistocene, during the "Kalambo Interstadial" period (32000- 26000 years BP), a mixed forest spread out under a moderately warm-wet climate. In the course of the "Mount Kenya Hypothermal" regressive phase (25000- 15000 years BP), in the "Last Glacial Maximum" (20000-18000 years BP) takes place an exceptional expansion of open grasslands that evidenced an important drought. After that, the revival of an afro-montane forest growing under cold-wet climatic conditions is recorded, but that one is temporarily interrupted by theYoung Dryas dry pulse. At the Humid Holocene Period (10000-7000 years BP), with the increase of rainfall, the Kivu Lake level is raising when the swamps in the highlands are transformed in lakes. Around 6500 yrs BP, the afro-montane rainforest invaded by afro-subalpine taxa turns into a secondary mixed forest as the result of a climatic deterioration. At 4000 yrs BP, an important spreading of grasslands in the highlands and of savannas in the lowlands testifies that an aridity peak occurs at the time. The changes that occurs from 3000 years BP to 2000 years BP in the afromontane forest suggests a climatic instability that moreover speeds up erosion processes. In the course of the first millennium AD, rainforest grows again; that event being shortly interrupted by a drought around 500 years AD. At the beginning of the second millennium AD, the lower belt of the forest is yet deteriorated by anthropic action while middle and upper belts are stable but marked by a fresh climate resulting of the "Mount Kenya Neoglacial" influence. From 17th – 18th centuries, human impact increases progressively in the highlands.


Porphyry ( On the Cave 6) states that the Mithraists "perfect their initiate by inducting him into a mystery of the descent of souls and their exit back out again, calling the place a 'cave'." To this end, they designed their mithraeum as an "image of the universe" in which "the things inside by their proportionate arrangement" served as "symbols of the elements and climates of the cosmos." This paper argues that Porphyry is correct, at least for a number of mithraea and their communities in Ostia, Rome, and the vicinities. The test case is the Ostian "Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres" (Sette Sfere). Here, the solstices are set at the mid points of the side-benches, the summer solstice on the left as one enters and the winter solstice on the right. The equinoxes lie at the ends of the central aisle, the spring equinox at the cult-niche end and the autumn equinox at the entrance end. The aisle thus replicates the equinoctial diameter of the universe. The descent and return of souls, for the comprehension and, arguably, the ritual enactment of which the mithraeum was designed, follows a route from a gate in the sphere of the fixed stars at the summer solstice in Cancer down through the seven spheres of the planets to genesis and mortal life on earth; at death and apogenesis, the soul retraces this route back up through the seven planetary spheres and out of an opposite gate in the sphere of the fixed stars at the summer solstice in Capricorn. This soul-route is attested by Proclus and Origen as well as by Porphyry. Accordingly, the "Mithraeum of the Seven Spheres" stands as a stunning example of Porphyry's description, even if it cannot be generalized to other mithraea which themselves do not exhibit the same rich array of cosmic symbols.


Fruit and vegetable processors, faced with the challenge of gaining and maintaining a healthy position in the competitive fruit and vegetable sector, are optimising traditional processes towards product quality. Using frozen potatoes as a case study, the aim of this study was to evaluate the potential of improving the texture of potatoes by modifying the processing conditions. The texture of processed frozen potatoes is the result of the integral effect of the unit operations applied through the production chain. Production of frozen potatoes includes a blanching, a freezing, thawing/cooking step before being served. In this study, blanching temperatures from 70 to 97 °C up to 10 minutes were tested and combined with freezing by two freezing methods, impingement and air-blast freezing. The texture was measured after cooking of frozen potatoes in boiling water. Besides texture, water holding capacity, microstructural evaluation and pectinmethylesterase (PME) activity were determined. Blanching of potatoes prior to freezing can both improve water holding capacity and texture of potatoes, but this effect depends on the freezing rate and blanching temperature. Potatoes frozen with fastest freezing method are firmer and hold more water than the ones frozen by air-blast freezing. Blanching at 70 °C can lead to potatoes that after cooking retain a firmer texture, compared with blanching at 90 °C. The duration of the blanching treatment has also an important effect on texture changes. The studies of PME activity showed a good correlation between texture and PME for blanching at 90 °C, but for blanching at 70°C and longer times, the development of texture does not seem to be solely related to PME activity. Microstructural studies showed that the differences in texture are due to differences in the degree of starch gelatinisation and integrity of the cellular structure.


A novel strategy for analyzing bias‐stress effects in organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs) based on a four‐parameter double stretched‐exponential formula is reported. The formula is obtained by modifying a traditional single stretched‐exponential expression comprising two parameters (a characteristic time and a stretched‐exponential factor) that describe the bias‐stress effects. The expression yields two characteristic times and two stretched‐exponential factors, thereby separating out the contributions due to charge trapping events in the semiconductor layer‐side of the interface and the gate‐dielectric layer‐side of the interface. The validity of this method was tested by designing two model systems in which the physical properties of the semiconductor layer and the gate‐dielectric layer were varied systematically. It was found that the gate‐dielectric layer, in general, plays a more critical role than the semiconductor layer in the bias‐stress effects, possibly due to the wider distribution of the activation energy for charge trapping. Furthermore, the presence of a self‐assembled monolayer further widens the distribution of the activation energy for charge trapping in gate‐dielectric layer‐side of the interface and causes the channel current to decay rapidly in the early stages. The novel analysis method presented here enhances our understanding of charge trapping and provides rational guidelines for developing efficient OFETs with high performance.


In this article, we study a variant of the capacitated team orienteering problem, that is the problem where a fleet of vehicles, each with a constraint on the time available, is given to serve profitable customers with the objective of maximizing the collected profit. We study the variant where customers may be only partially served (incomplete service) and, if beneficial, also by more than one vehicle (split deliveries). We will analyze the maximum theoretical increase of the profit due to the incomplete service and to the split deliveries. We also computationally measure such increase on a set of instances, by means of an exact algorithm on small/medium size instances and of two heuristics on instances of larger size. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, Vol. 63(2), 135–145 2014


This research has been designed to cover the following objectives (1) To find out the perceptions of teacher trainers about essential classroom skills being stressed during the teacher training program. (2)To determine if there are discrepancies between skills are being developed during the teacher training program and skills actually being used in the classroom. (3) To identify the problems in acquiring and implementing the essential classroom skills by the trainees teachers. The study was conducted in KPK, the province of Pakistan. Two Districts were randomly chosen from the province. Ten percent Govt. Secondary Schools Ten percent teachers were chosen from the sampled teachers for researcher's classroom observation who were teaching the subjects of Urdu, pak.Studies and Islamic studies at secondary level. An equal number of teacher trainers were taken from each District. A questionnaire was designed to get the responses of the teacher trainers. A checklist was constructed to carry out classroom observation of the teachers teaching in the classroom and to see the effectiveness of teacher training program (B.Ed). Data collected through research instruments were analyzed by using mean score, t-test. It was concluded that majority of the teachers prepared the lesson objectives before going to their classes. Majority of the teachers lacked the skill of identifying misbehaviors. The teachers were trained in the Traditional methods. The Teacher Training Programs were heavily loaded with theoretical information and the teachers were unable to use modern methodologies. It was recommended that the Teacher Training Institutions be equipped with the latest technologies to equip the teachers with latest techniques and teaching methodologies. The teachers may be provided appropriate training in the area of classroom management and evaluation. Key words: Teacher Trainers, Effectiveness, Observation, Teacher Training Program


THE EFFECT OF AEROSOL DRUG DELIVERY ON AIRWAY RESISTANCE THROUGH HEAT-MOISTURE EXCHANGERS (HMEs) By Matthew Hart Introduction: The use of heat moisture exchangers (HMEs) is becoming more popular with many institutions delivering aerosolized medications between the HME and the endotracheal tube of patients being mechanically ventilated. When HMEs become saturated resistance can increase which can cause changes that can lead to patientventilator dysnchrony, development of intrinsic PEEP, and weaning difficulty. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of aerosol drug delivery on resistance through heat-moisture exchangers. Method: An in-vitro model to simulate exhaled heat and humidity from a patient's lungs was developed by connecting the test lung to a cascade humidifier that was placed between the endotracheal tube and the test lung. Temperature (37 oC) and relative humidity (100%) were held constant through all test runs. Ventilator settings used for the study were as follows: Tidal volume 500 mL, frequency 15/min, PEF 60 L/min, PEEP 5 cmH2O, bias flow 2 L/min and I:E ratio 1:3.The pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI; ProAir HFA) with a minispacer (Thayer Medical), hand-held nebulizer (HHN; Salter Labs) and placebo (No aerosol generator or medication) were compared. Albuterol sulfate (2.5 mg/3 ml) was administered through continuous HHN and six puffs of albuterol were given from a pMDI equaling one treatment. Neither medication nor aerosol device was used with the placebo group in order to determine the effect of HME on airway resistance during mechanical ventilation. Six aerosolized treatments were given to simulate a patient receiving albuterol every four hours over a twenty-four hour period. While five minutes was allowed between treatments, airway resistance was measured via the ventilator before and after the administration of the placebo, pMDI and HHN, which equaled five-minute intervals. Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics, dependent t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), repeated measures ANOVA and post-hoc multiple comparisons were utilized for the data analysis of this study, using SPSS version 16.0. A p-value<0.05 was considered significant. Results: There is a linear time effect with means of airway resistance increasing overtime not only with the placebo but also with the pMDI and nebulizer. At the end of all treatments, the means of resistance with the placebo, pMDI and nebulizer were 9.31 cmH2O/L/sec, 9.37 cmH2O/L/sec and 11.20 cmH2O/L/sec, respectively. While no significant difference was found between the placebo and the pMDI (p=0.452), the nebulizer significantly increased airway resistance when compared to placebo (p=0.004) and the pMDI (p=0.02). Conclusion: Airway resistance increases with use of the placebo, pMDI, and JN groups. Aerosol generators showed a greater increase in resistance when compared to placebo with the greater increase in resistance by HHN. THE EFFECT OF AEROSOL DRUG DELIVERY ON AIRWAY RESISTANCE THROUGH HEAT-MOISTURE EXCHANGERS (HMEs) By Matthew Hart A Thesis Presented in Partial Fulfillment of Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Health Sciences in Division of Respiratory Therapy in The College of Health and Human Sciences Georgia State University


Field trials were carried out to study the effect of weed control periods on some yield components of the peanut crop. Two experiments were carried out in Taquaritinga-SP, Brazil, one during the "dry season" (seeds sown in March), and the other during the "rainy season" (seeds sown in September). The treatments utilized were the following weed control periods: 0-17, 0-31, 0-45, 0-59, 0-73, 17-31, 17-45, 17-59, 17-73, 31-45, 31-59, 31-73, 45-59, 45-73 and 59-73 days after plant emergence. Two controls were used, one without weed control, and the other without weed interference during throughout the crop cycle. The major weed infesting both trials was Digitaria horizontalis. The infesting weed community and crop were affected by the seeding season, altering their interference relationships. In the "rainy season", the effects of the infesting weed community were more drastic, affecting peanut yield more intensely. Among the yield crop components evaluated, the number of pods per plant was the major factor in yield reduction. In the "rainy season" , control was needed only after 45 days of weed interference while in the dry season, only after 59 days, characterizing the critical times prior to interference. In both seeding seasons, weed control carried out up to 17 days after emergence was enough to maintain yield crop, being characterized as the critical weed-free period.


This dissertation, consisting of four independent but complementary research papers, examines buying behavior of consumers in retail channels, efficiency characteristics of the Internet market, and pricing strategies of Internet retailers. This investigation involves both theoretical and empirical work.
Theoretically, we develop a multi-attribute economic model to analyze consumer behavior for traditional and electronic channels based on consumers' risk profiles—low risk tolerance vs. high risk tolerance. Current literature focuses on only one dimension of measurement as opposed to multi-attribute models. We then conduct comparative analyses of consumer purchase decisions to derive strategies for different channels. Theoretical propositions are developed concerning consumer channel switching behavior, incentives to consumers, and pricing strategies for different channels. We use simulations to gain insights for cases where analytical model becomes intractable.
Empirically, we analyze efficiency characteristics of the Internet for two product sets: (1) 14 product categories encompassing 3 product classes (commodity, quasi-commodity, and differentiated products) and (2) 3 top-selling products on the Internet (books, CDs, and flight tickets). Focusing on consumer information search and evaluation behavior, we propose the pricing model and log-linear price dispersion model to identify factors that influence Internet retailers' pricing strategies and price dispersion on the Internet. One of our findings shows that the CD market is the most price-competitive among the 3 top-selling product markets, whereas the quasi-commodity market experiences relatively stronger price competition than the other two product classes. A second finding shows that retailers' heterogeneity in inducing consumer search and evaluation efforts is highly related to price dispersion in e-markets.
Additionally, we develop surveys to empirically investigate the relationship between operating characteristics of consumer purchasing decision process and consumer purchase intentions. Online and offline models in this relationship are compared and tested. Findings provide evidence that, the overall channel switching percentage from offline to online is approximately 47%. The analysis show that overall, differences in channel risk perceptions, price search intentions, evaluation effort, and waiting time between online and offline channels appear to have significant impact on respondents' switching from offline to online shopping environment. Other interesting findings and managerial implications are discussed.


Abstract : Incorporating security in supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems and sensor networks has proven to be a pervasive problem due to the constraints and demands placed on these systems. Both attackers and security professionals seek to uncover the inherent roots of trust in a system to achieve opposing goals. With SCADA systems, a battle is being fought at the cyber -- physical level, specifically the programmable logic controller (PLC). The Stuxnet worm, which became increasingly apparent in the summer of 2010, has shown that modifications to a SCADA system can be discovered on infected engineering workstations on the network, to include the ladder logic found in the PLC. However, certain firmware modifications made to a PLC can go undetected due to the lack of effective techniques available for detecting them. Current software auditing tools give an analyst a singular view of assembly code, and binary difference programs can only show simple differences between assembly codes. Additionally, there appears to be no comprehensive software tool that aids an analyst with evaluating a PLC firmware file for modifications and displaying the resulting effects. Manual analysis is time consuming and error prone. Furthermore, there are not enough talented individuals available in the industrial control system (ICS) community with an in-depth knowledge of assembly language and the inner workings of PLC firmware. This research presents a novel analysis technique that compares a suspected-altered firmware to a known good firmware of a specific PLC and performs a static analysis of differences. This technique includes multiple tests to compare both firmware versions, detect differences in size, and code differences such as removing, adding, or modifying existing functions in the original firmware. A proof-of-concept experiment demonstrates the functionality of the analysis tool using different firmware versions from an Allen-Bradley ControlLogix L61 PLC.


ABSTRACT Microbial communities developing on modern clastic sedimentary surfaces of arid lands are dominated by phototrophic microorganisms that form a variety of characteristic "microbially induced sedimentary structures" (MISS) through their interactions with detrital sedimentary grains, aided by secretions of extracellular polymeric substances and other organic materials. In this study, we describe modern MISS from unvegetated arid topsoils and compare them with fossil MISS found within decimeter- to meter-thick sedimentary sequences of Mesoproterozoic siliciclastic outcrops of the Dripping Spring Quartzite formation of the Apache Group in central Arizona, USA. These sequences contain numerous bedding plane exposures with desiccation surfaces including polygonal cracks, curls, and chips. Repetition of these structures within stratigraphic sequences indicates recurring episodes of subaerial exposure. Some of these MISS contain cellular microfossils that exhibit morphological adaptations for surviving desiccation. The strong similarities between modern and ancient MISS in this study provide additional criteria for recognizing morphological biosignatures of terrestrial microbial communities in ancient deposits. Our results provide compelling evidence for the presence of land-based microbial communities by the Mesoproterozoic (∼1200 Ma). The association of MISS features further suggests that the primary producers that had colonized Mesoproterozoic land surfaces were likely desiccation-adapted photosynthetic microbes, similar to modern desert soil crust communities.


Foreign students and scholars make substantial contributions to U.S. research efforts and technology development. However, according to a federal government intelligence assessment, access to sensitive U.S. technology by those students and faculty members has imposed a significant but unquantifiable cost to the United States. Research administrators must manage these risks through their export control compliance programs. The primary "auditor" for the U.S. government has issued several reports on this effort. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is well known for its reports to Congress on almost any topic imaginable. It recently turned its attention to the subject of export controls, with a series of reports to the House Judiciary Committee. One of these reports, GAO-07-70, specifically addressed the issues surrounding export-controlled information at universities. The Committee asked GAO to review how academic institutions and the U.S. government protect against the illegal disclosure of such information. This request was based, in part, on prior work by GAO and congressional testimony by a National Academy of Sciences official in September 2005 that over 55 percent of the engineering Ph.D. students in the United States are foreign-born. Another reason for the request was the identification of risks of improper disclosure identified in the Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, Annual Report to Congress on Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage--2004, NCIX 2005-10006 (Washington, D.C., April 2005). In its report to the Committee, GAO first described the universities' approach to research (particularly their orientation to fundamental research not subject to export control). GAO then identified the steps the universities have taken to comply with government export control regulations. Finally, the report assessed the efforts of the Departments of Commerce and State to determine the risk of export violations in university research. In its review, GAO contacted 13 universities based on their international student populations, export license applications, and federal grants and contracts. (1) GAO analysts interviewed officials in such positions as vice chancellor for research, director of compliance, and general counsel. As the GAO report noted, U.S. export control regulations are designed for "self-compliance." For the academic community specifically, it is the universities' responsibility to conduct due diligence to determine whether their research activities are subject to export laws, and to identify whether an export license is required for foreign nationals within their purview. Several university officials told GAO that becoming educated on complex export control regulations requires an extensive time commitment because the government does not provide sufficient guidance. They indicated that the training and guidance conducted by the two Departments (State and Commerce) have limited utility for academic institutions. Indeed, the GAO was not complimentary of either department's outreach and training, finding that there was not enough of it and that it was not aimed at the academic audience. GAO also found that State and Commerce have taken few actions to coordinate their outreach efforts to universities. Among the universities GAO identified as sources of "best practices" information on export controls were Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and the Universities of Oklahoma and Maryland. State Department and Commerce Department officials expressed concerns to GAO that universities may not be properly undertaking their responsibilities under export regulations, and that the potential may exist for foreign nationals to access sensitive information on U.S. campuses. However, despite these concerns, GAO found that neither agency has analyzed available information on university research and foreign student populations to determine the potential risk of the illegal transfer of controlled information. …


Introduction:
Adhesive technology is widely spread throughout the different specialities of dentistry. In
orthodontics the bonding of brackets accounts for a significant percentage of time in practice routine. Bond strength
is dependent on several factors such as enamel conditioning, adhesive technology and the material and construction
of the bracket base. It was the intention of the present study to investigate the bond strength in relation to the above
mentioned parameters.
Method:
Four different brackets (metal, ceramic, polymer, fiber reinforced polymer) were evaluated for their
bond strength during tensile testing witha universal testing machineusing a conventional composite (Transbond MIP,
XT) and in the case of the fiber reinforced bracket additionally a specially designed adhesive (Quick-Bond). Enamel
conditioning was achieved with conventional etching, air-abrasion or a combination of both techniques. ARI (adhesive
remnant index) scores were evaluated.
Results:
There were significant differences between the types of enamel conditioning. All brackets showed
significantly lower bonding forces when the enamel was prepared with air-abrasion alone. Metal brackets had the
highest bonding strength and the fiber reinforced composite brackets with the conventional adhesive the lowest. The
ARI scores showed good correlation to the bonding forces, with low bonding forces presenting as a detachment at
the enamel-adhesive interface.
Conclusion:
 Air-abrasion alone showed significantly lower bonding forces than enamel conditioning with etching
for all bracket types. This finding was independent of the bracket material, base design or adhesive system.

Keywords:
Air-abrasion; Etching; Bonding; Tensile testing.

Introduction:
The introduction of adhesive systems for orthodontic bonding has dramatically decreased a time consuming step in fixed appliance therapy. Since the introduction of the adhesive technology by Buonocore  in 1955 and the first report of its use in bracket placement by Newman in 1964, there have been considerable developments in all areas. Enamel etching was first performed with 80% phosphoric acid but soon changed to a 37% solution, which was routinely accepted by the end of the last millennium. Subsequently the introduction of self-etching primers has again brought a dramatic change in etching technology. Not only were new etching agents such as polyacrylic acid and maleic acid introduced , but the etchant was combined with the low viscosity composite matrix which potentially enhanced the penetration of the etching relief. Alongside the etchants, adhesives have also evolved. Whereas initially Newman advocated the use of an epoxy resin, polyacrylic resins filled with different anorganic fillers are more commonly used today [6]. Finally the use of new materials in bracket manufacturing, such as different ceramics and polycarbonates also emphasizes the ongoing development and research in adhesive technology.

Material and Methods:
225 bovine mandibular incisors were extracted and stored in a Ringer solution at 37°C. After separating the crown from its root, it was embedded in a cold hardening polymer (SR3/60 Quick, IvoclarVivadent, Ellwangen, Germany) with the buccal surface freely exposed from the polymer. The teeth were then grouped according to the four bracket types and three conditioning methods. Metal brackets (Mini Mono™, Forestadent, Pforzheim, Germany), ceramic brackets (Clarity™, 3MUnitek, Monrovia, USA) conventional polymer brackets and fiber reinforced polymer brackets(Brilliant™, In addition the bases of the polymer brackets were activated with a plastic primer (Grundierer 163-500-00, Dentaurum, Ispringen, Germany). All teeth were pumiced, rinsed with water and dried with a blast of air.In the conventional etching group, a 37% phosphoric acid (Unitek etching gel 712-039, 3M Unitek, Monrovia, USA) was applied to the enamel for 15 seconds before it was rinsed and dried again. The airabrasion group was prepared, using a KAVO handpiece(Rondoflex 2013, KAVO, Biberach, Switzerland) with 50µ Al2 O3 particles for 2 seconds at a distance of 5 mm, followed by thorough rinsing and drying with air. For the combined group of etching and air-abrasion, the techniques were used as described above with etching following air-abrasion. SEM images (ESEM, Philips 30, Royal Philips Electronics, Netherlands) of the enamel surface of one single tooth were taken after preparation with the three enamel conditioning methods.

Results:
Tensile bond strength, ARI scores and statistical significance amongst the three pre-conditioning methods shows the significances between the bracket types evaluated according to the three pre-conditioning methods.

Conventional etching:
Bond strength of the MiniMono bracket was 4.9 MPa and significantly higher than the values for Clarity (3.2 MPa), Elegance (3.7 MPa) or Brilliant (3.45 MPa), which showed no significant intergroup difference. Although the values for Brilliant+ (4.3 MPa) were significantly lower than for MiniMonothey were also significantly higher than for the other remaining groups .

Air-abrasion:
Within the Air-abrasion group, all brackets reacted only low levels of bond strength. The lowest bond strengths were found for Brilliant (1 MPa), which were significantly lower than for MiniMono (1.7 MPa), Clarity (2.1) or Elegance (1.9 MPa). The difference between Clarity and Elegance was significant as well. The Brilliant+ group (2.3 MPa) showed bond strengths comparable to MiniMono and Clarity and significantly higher than Elegance.

Air-abrasion and etching:
MiniMono brackets (5.2 MPa) showed significantly higher values than all other groups.

Bond strength according to bracket type:
significantly higher with etching (4.9 MPa) and air-abrasion+etching (5.2 MPa) than for air-abrasion alone (1.7 MPa). The same was true for the Clarity bracket with 3.2 MPa, 3.5 MPa and 2.1 MPa, the Elegance bracket with 3.7 MPa, 4.2 MPa and 1.9 MPa, the Brilliant bracket with 3.5 MPa, 3.8 MPa, 1 MPa, as well as the Brilliant+ bracket with 4.3 MPa, 4.3 MPa, 2.3 MPa respectively.

Discussion:
Adhesive technology has been one of the major developments in dentistry in the last century and has become a cornerstone for modern dentistry in all specialities. Since its introduction by Buonocore in 1955, constant research and development has led to the current adhesives and their recommended handling. The reliability of the bonding of adhesive and bracket to enamel is thereby influenced by many parameters such as enamel conditioning, the adhesive itself as well as the material and surface treatment of the bracket base. Clinically a conventional preconditioning of enamel with 37% phosphoric acid can still be recommended.
Conclusion:
The study clearly shows disadvantages for air-abrasion when compared to conventional etching and a combination of air-abrasion and etching. The inadequacy of air-abrasion can not only be observed in respect to bonding forces, but also in the occurrence of the fractureline, which was evaluated by an ARI score.
The combination of diverse bracket types with a conventional composite showed that not all systems are compatible. The use of a special adhesive (Quick- Bond) eliminated this disadvantage.

Tensile testing for bracket bond strength is less common than shear testing and leads to lower mean forces than comparable shear force investigations. However tensile stresses are relevant as they might occur at the adhesive interface and explain unexpected failures

Bottom line: 25th Euro Congress and Expo on DENTAL & ORAL HEALTH October 16-18, 2017 | Budapest, Hungary


Emerging information media present new challenges to the curators. While archiving objects, and building meaningful collection for long-term preservation and access, have been well-understood practice for centuaries, digital objects present new issues. In the previous article (Shah, 2009) I identified a number of these issues related to digital objects, specifically digital videos of an ephemeral nature. I argued that while preserving such objects, adding contextual information is essential. One of the interesting challenges is to identify what to collect and preserve as contextual information. For ephemeral digital videos, I proposed to harvest four kinds of relevances and five kinds of contexts. In order to implement this proposal, I presented ContextMiner, a framework and a system to support digital video curation. In this article, I will take a closer look at ContextMiner, analyzing it for its functionalities and usability. This is done by usability inspection and content analysis. For the former, we simulated two curatorial tasks, asked our users (curators) to use ContextMiner, and provide us feedback on its usability and functionalities. For the latter, we mined a collection prepared by ContextMiner for its potential usage in preservation. Finally, I have summarized the lessons learned from developing and using our system, providing implications for digital library curators interested in collecting and preserving digital objects of an ephemeral nature.


Over the past fifteen years, there has been a tremendous boom in the private equity industry. The pool of U.S. private equity funds (partnerships specializing in venture capital, leveraged buyouts, mezzanine investments, build-ups, and distressed debt) has grown from $5 billion in 1980 to about $150 billion in 1997. Private equity's recent growth has outstripped that of almost every class of financial product. While some of this growth was driven by the easing of federal regulations, it also reflects investors' growing appreciation of the effectiveness of the organizational structures and control mechanisms employed by private equity funds. This document describes a course exploring this industry, "Venture Capital and Private Equity." This course was introduced by the author of this working paper at Harvard Business School in the 1993-1994 academic year. In recent years, two full sections, each of approximately 100 MBAs and other students have signed up for the course, with a significant waiting list. The cases in this course have also been used in a variety of other settings, including an annual executive education course on private equity organized by Paul Gompers and the author at Harvard Business School, and in entrepreneurship and private equity courses at a variety of other major business schools. Three primary pedagogical objectives motivate the design and structure of the course. First, and most fundamentally, the course seeks to deepen students' understanding of corporate finance. This course differs from some academic programs in entrepreneurship, which emphasize the uniqueness of private equity finance and the limited applicability of academic theory. For instance, one leading entrepreneurship text [Timmons, 1994] states, "there are both stark and subtle differences, both in theory and practice, between entrepreneurial finance as practiced in higher potential ventures and corporate or administrative finance, which usually occurs in larger publicly traded companies. Further, there are important limits to some financial theories as applied to new ventures." By way of contrast, this course emphasizes the relevance of the intellectual frameworks used to analyze corporate finance problems (incomplete contracting theory, agency problems, etc.) for the private equity industry. Wherever possible, the links to other finance courses are emphasized. Thus, one goal is to review and apply the key concepts and tools of corporate finance in an environment that the students perceive as very interesting. Second, the course seeks to build familiarity with the key institutional features of the private equity industry. Whether discussing fund structures, potential investments, or returns, participants in the private equity industry often describe phenomena in language that is somewhat different from other financial investors. Understanding the key frameworks employed by private equity investors, and relating them to traditional finance practice, is thus an important goal. A related objective is building an appreciation for the gradations inherent in the industry. Students often consider the private equity industry as an undifferentiated whole, without appreciating the very significant differences in the standards and practices that exist between these groups. An appreciation of the many important differences between these groups is important lesson. Much of the fulfillment of this second goal, it is important to note, takes place outside of the classroom. An important component of the course is the final paper. Whether students intend to work for a private equity organization or to accept money from one, careful due diligence is essential. Private equity funds jealously guard their privacy, and distinguishing between top-tier organizations and less reputable concerns is not always easy. The final paper offers an opportunity to become better acquainted with key resources, including trade magazines, legal handbooks, academic articles, and on-line databases. An important resource in completing the project is the VentureOne database of private equity financings, which the firm has generously made available to the class. Finally, a crucial objective is to build an appreciation of the valuation process in the private equity setting. Valuation issues are often the subject of contentious disputes, whether the context is assessing the relative past returns of several private equity groups, determining the impact of a shift in a buyout fund's fee structure, allocating equity in a start-up to management and one or more private equity groups, or assessing the impact of a "sweetener" of warrants (a grant of warrants in addition to a block of equity) on the price paid per share by private equity investors. Industry practice, reflecting private equity's early state of evolution relative to many other financial sectors, can often appear to the outside observer as sloppy and not standardized. Skill in analyzing value is likely to be an increasingly important competitive skill in the private equity industry. This course consequently introduces a wide array of valuation methodologies. These range from approaches commonly seen in practice (e.g., the use of comparables and the "venture capital" method) to those less frequently employed but likely to be useful nonetheless (the use of Monte Carlo simulations and option pricing techniques). The course emphasizes not only the mechanisms employed, but also how to clearly communicate the strengths and limitations of each approach. These discussions are facilitated by the use of Harvard Business School's electronic infrastructure. For a typical class, a spreadsheet containing the case problems is posted on the School's intranet prior to class, the class discussion includes an analysis of the spreadsheet (with the spreadsheet simultaneously projected on the central screen), and the fully worked analysis is posted on the intranet immediately after class. The course is organized in four modules. The first module of "Venture Capital and Private Equity" examines how private equity funds are raised and structured. The structure of private equity funds have a profound effect on the behavior of venture and buyout investors. The module seeks not only to understand the features of private equity funds and the actors in the fundraising process, but also to analyze which institutions serve to increase the profits from private equity investments as a whole, and which seem designed mostly to shift profits between the parties. The second module of the course considers the interactions between private equity investors and the entrepreneurs that they finance. The course approaches these interactions through a two-part framework, first identifying the four critical factors that make it difficult for the types of firms backed by private equity investors to meet their financing needs through traditional mechanisms, and then considering six classes of financial and organizational responses by private equity investors. The third module of "Venture Capital and Private Equity" examines the process through which private equity investors exit their investments. Successful exits are critical to insuring attractive returns for investors, but private equity investors' behavior around the exiting process can sometimes lead to severe problems for entrepreneurs. We seek to understand which institutional features associated with exiting private equity investments increase the overall amount of profits from private equity investments, and which actions seem to be intended to shift more of the profits to particular parties. The final module reviews many of the key ideas developed in the course. Rather than considering traditional private equity organizations, however, the two cases examine organizations with very different goals, examining funds established by a large corporation and a non-profit organization. These cases allow us not only to understand these challenging initiatives, but to review the elements that are crucial to the success of traditional private equity organizations. See also my related papers "Money Chasing Deals?: The Impact of Fund Inflows on Private Equity Valuations", "What Drives Venture Capital Fundraising?", and "Conflict of Interest and Reputation in the Issuance of Public Securities: Evidence from Venture Capital".


Internet Success: A Study of Open-Source Software Commons is a treasure trove for researchers from different disciplines who are attempting to understand the constantly evolving open-source software (OSS) commons. The core research question addressed by this book is "[w]hat factors lead some OSS commons to success and others to abandonment". The authors answer this important question using the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework and extensive empirical data.The book has four different parts that flows smoothly from one to the next. Part 1 provides an excellent introduction to the context of the work, particularly the importance of studying the OSS commons. The reasons cited by the authors, including the fascinating way the OSS has inserted itself into our technical infrastructure, warrants special attention. As the authors rightly point out, the study of the OSS is also important in view of the fact that it can foster socially relevant collaborations in many other areas. The rich historical background of the OSS and the resulting availability of data are certainly factors contributing in this direction. Part 2 of the book provides a comprehensive overview of the OSS ecosystem and the OSS developers, based on extensive literature review. The detailed analysis of the key incentives and motivations for the four general organisational types (firms, governments, non-profits, academic and research organisations) deserve special mention in this regard.Moving from theoretical discussions to empirical observations, Part 3 provides an overview of the different empirical studies conducted by the authors. This part begins with an interesting case study on the Open-Source Geospatial Foundation. The next chapter in this part describes in detail how the authors have defined "success" and "abandonment" of the OSS projects. It also explains how they classified the projects hosted in SourceForge into those two categories. The methodology and the statistical tools used for conducting a survey among the developers are also explained in a manner comprehensible even for those with very limited exposure to empirical methods. Based on extensive empirical data, Chapter 10 provides answers to most of the testable hypotheses and Chapter 11 provides a multivariate model of OSS success and abandonment. Part 4 of the book provides an overview of the overall conclusions from the study and illustrates that factors like leadership by doing (working more hours), clear vision, and well-articulated goals play a pivotal role in the success of projects at both the initiation stage (before the first release) as well as the growth stage (after the first release). Moving away from the traditional academic discussion approaches, the authors have also included in the final chapter a very detailed discussion on the practical implications of their findings, apart from detailed explanations on the theoretical implications of the study.Maintaining readability, while ensuring scientific rigour is one of the most difficult challenges for any academic work and the authors have achieved this in a highly impressive manner in this book. The writing style adopted in the work would ensure that readers from different disciplines will be able to navigate easily through enormous data and intricate findings. The authors have adopted detailed illustration of their research methodologies in all parts of the work (see for example, Chapter 9, which discusses the empirical survey) and have also given detailed explanations for even common statistical tools (see for example, explanation of dependent variable at p. 128 and explanation of statistical significance at p. 202), wherever they are used. The authors also explain in detail why each of the tested hypotheses were supported or rejected. While some may not like this style of very detailed writing, it is important to note that only detailed illustrations can enable proper replications of a study like this. It is also important to note in this context that the authors have made available supplementary materials, including the data used in the study, through a website (http://www.umass.edu/opensource/schweik/supplementary.html) for enabling replications of the study. Such replications may enable future research works to overcome some of the explicitly mentioned limitations of this study, including the question of representativeness of SourceForge for all open source projects and the survey sample for all developers working in this area. To summarise, this book makes a very significant contribution to the fascinating, yet under-explored, area of OSS commons and it is a must read for all researchers interested in the area of collective action.