Critical examinations of The X-Files support the contention that its formula for success included narrative originality, social commentary, and cultural resonance to a degree rare in prime time network commercial entertainment television, but not so uncommon within the tradition of TV science fiction. Science fiction in broadcast history, although neglected critically for its associations with the populist leanings of genre criticism on one hand and the lowbrow reputation of broadcasting on the other, is rich with examples of memorable and enduring programming. To name just a few-Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" (1938), Alcoa Presents/One Step Beyond (ABC, 1959-1961), Rod Serling's The Twilight Zone (CBS, 1959-1964), The Outer Limits (ABC, 1963-1965), The Invaders (ABC, 1967-1968), Star Trek (NBC, 1966-1969), Night Gallery (NBC, 1970-1973), Kolchak: The Night Stalker (ABC, 1974-1975), V (NBC, 1984-1985), Something Is Out There (NBC, 1988), and "Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?" (Fox, 1995)-most of these the subject of remakes, sequels, franchise spinoffs, feature adaptations, or feature serializations, and most enjoying six degrees of separation from The X-Files (Fox, 1993-2002). Susan Sontag's 1965 "The Imagination of Disaster" stands among the earliest considerations of the cultural functions of science fiction. Even though she focuses on 1950s Hollywood science fiction cinema, aspects of her argument have been found applicable to examinations of television (Delapa; Murray). Not simply did she inventory generic properties and their recurring combinations across the body of fifties science fiction films, Sontag brought social history to bear upon their study. She asserted the march of world events as the genre's circumscribing frame of reference and identified the specter of the 20th century's demonstrated technologies for mass atrocity as science fiction film's political unconscious. Imaginings of alternate cosmologies and allegorical fantasies find structural points of departure and frames of reference in the destructive excesses to date of human enterprise. However, asserting a much-debated proviso to her formulation, Sontag wrote, "There is absolutely no social criticism . . . in science fiction films" (233). By its beautifying and neutralizing effects, science fiction normalizes the extremes of modern human existence-relentless banality and unimaginable terror. Although Sontag denied social criticism as a function of science fiction film, her assertions have nonetheless informed contemporary elaborations that argue that science fiction film and television intersect with broader systems of social meaning to engage intertextual modes of address that, in turn, cultivate and support sophisticated spectator and viewer practices (Sobchack; Kuhn; Telotte; Penley et al.; Lavery, Hague and Cartwright; King and Krzywinska). For example, place and location in science fiction rarely, if ever, function independently from diegetic frames of social organization. Within science fiction landscapes, environments driven by science and technology lend generic specificity to characters, con-flicts, and plots. Science fiction themes speak to the interface between human social existence and advancing scientific technologies. Moreover, the resulting scenarios find comprehension according to an era's lexicon for imagining the inconceivable. Thus, science fiction performs a particular historical function of negotiating present and pressing social concerns through cautionary fantasies of alternate realities. Science fiction's poles of dramatic conflict echo a given generation's lived challenges to humanity's status as a material and moral force-those historical challenges recast in utopian/dystopian narrative space. The more recent trend towards cultural studies extends genre criticism's identifications of characteristic structural and narrative properties that undergird science fiction film and television production and marketing. …


The twofold purpose of this study was to develop and validate an instrument that assessed teachers' intentions, attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavior control to administer fitness tests effectively, and to determine how well the instrument could predict teachers' intentions and actual behavior based on Ajzen's (1985, 1991) theory of planned behavior. In the development phase of the study, 104 physical educators completed the pilot version of the survey to refine the instrument. In the prediction of behavior phase of the study, a convenience sample of 195 physical educators completed (a) the Teachers' Intentions to Administer Physical Fitness Tests Effectively (TIAPFTE) before fitness testing and (b) a behavior self-report after they administered fitness testing. Standard multiple regression analyses showed perceived behavioral control and attitude significantly predicted intention. Furthermore, results showed that attitude significantly predicted teachers' behavior directly.


Since ultra-wideband (UWB) transceivers are available
for wireless sensor networks, the usage in research and industry
increased. Research efforts resulted in methods, measurement
results, and solutions under laboratory conditions for a variety
of indoor localization problems provided to the community. In
this paper, we present an indoor positioning system (IPS) that
is installed in a 1500m^2 real world production facility. In this
real-world application, we faced some challenges that research
has not addressed yet. For instance, challenges are receiving
UWB signals from other floors in a multistory building through
windows and multipath effects at walls like reflexions. We present
solutions to increase the availability of such large-scale IPS, give
a performance evaluation and recommendation for a modified
NMEA sentence named iNMEA for IPS receivers.


Molecular biomarkers are becoming increasingly significant in the workup of lung carcinoma patients. They assist in diagnosis, selecting the most adequate therapy and determining prognosis. Obtaining blood based biomarkers or volatile markers in exhaled breath may provide a less invasive method in the future. For the time being, bronchoscopy is still the method of choice to obtain specimen and assess tissue based biomarkers. The techniques how specimen are collected and processed for analysis are of paramount importance.


Apparent quantum yields and rates of dimethylsulfide (DMS) photolysis were determined from Sargasso Sea seawater with the goal of assessing the extent to which photoreactions affect the unusually elevated upper ocean concentrations of DMS during the summer, the so‐called DMS summer paradox. Apparent quantum yields determined with monochromatic radiation decrease exponentially with increasing wavelength and indicate that DMS photolysis is driven by ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The relative spectral partitioning differs between samples collected from the surface mixed layer (15 m) and from the chlorophyll a maximum (80 m), presumably because of differences in chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) quality (e.g., apparent degree of bleaching). Quantum yields are also temperature dependent, and an approximate doubling of photolysis rates occurs for a 20°C increase in temperature. The significance of DMS photolysis to upper ocean sulfur budgets is explored using a multiyear (1992–1994) DMS time series, concurrent irradiance determinations and temperature profiles, and estimates of CDOM absorption. Depth‐integrated, mixed‐layer DMS photolysis rates peak in the summer (15–25 µmol m−2 d−1) and decline to ,1 µmol m−2 d−1 in the winter. These rates correspond to specific turnover rates of ~0.29 d−1 in the summer and > 0.02 d−1 in the winter. Seasonal changes in solar radiation, temperature, and DMS concentrations drive the 30‐fold differences in photolysis rates, overshadowing differences caused by photosensitizer (CDOM) quantity or quality (21–35%). These results demonstrate that although photolysis is not the primary driver of the summer paradox, it makes an important contribution to the time‐depth pattern of DMS concentrations observed in the Sargasso Sea.


This study computed the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) products derived from NOAA AVHRR, MODIS, and SPOT VGT sensors. NDVI products from different instruments vary in spatial resolution, temporal coverage and spectral range. As a result, multisensor NDVI products are rarely used in a single phenological study. In order to evaluate the difference and similarity of NDVI records from the three sensors, I used the EPA Eco-region framework to determine the average annual Start of Season (SOS) and End of Season (EOS) of Contiguous United States, and analyzed dates among datasets. In addition, I created 1127 sample points within the study area, and compared the relationship between SOS/EOS based on land cover. The objectives of this thesis are to: 1) compare multi-sensor NDVI data using phenological models, 2) define a strategy to merge multi-sensor NDVI products to a single phenological product without direct NDVI conversion. The spatial and statistical analysis revealed that the Land Surface Phenology (LSP) measurements retrieved from NDVI time series from different sensors follow linear and positive relationships where compared by either ecoregion or sample point. The historical record of AVHRR combined with the modern MODIS and SPOT data provides a critical and reliable perspective on phenological patterns in Contiguous United States area. The success of this study will help LSP by providing understanding of how different instruments can be combined to generate multi-sensor NDVI data for phenology.


Place attachment can be described as an emotional bond between people and places , usually residential, implying securing feelings in the object of attachment, sense of belonging, desire of proximity, and wish to come back when away . Moreover, the disruption of place attachment through forced relocation (such as in a context of conflict or natural disaster) can have severe health and psychological effects . Potentially complicated in any context, the need to provide housing becomes very difficult when limited land for a growing number of population forces to relocate from the rural to the urban environment, and it may involve breaking with long stablished socio-cultural traditions and structures. The aims of this paper are therefore threefold: first, to critically review previous evidence that relates place attachment and unconscious place-specific daily routines, presenting time-space routines as a key element in the development of a sense of belonging; second, to illustrate spatial sequence in Malaysian domestic space as an enabler of belonging for those dwellers that relocate from traditional housing to modern apartments. And third, with the results of the aforementioned study, to provide further evidence of the social dimension of place attachment as played out in a residential context. In doing so, this article expands on current literature supporting the need for a perspective on place attachment that reflects its socially constructed nature.


The results of a comprehensive trip generation study of the Providence Railroad Station in Providence, Rhode Island, are presented. The results include the monitoring of vehicular traffic approaching and departing on streets adjacent to the station and making stops for arriving or departing rail transit passengers. Daily train schedules were obtained for each observation period to determine the number of train stops per day (an independent variable). Social and environmental effects that could influence transit ridership (holidays, weather, and so forth) were noted. Finally, the characteristics that define the station and the community it services were researched and presented. It was found that the peak period for vehicular traffic generated by the station occurred on Monday mornings when commuter peak hour occurred combined with interstate Amtrak train service. The trip generation data resulting from the study can be used to make general predictions regarding trip generation trends at other rail transit stations that have similar service and environmental characteristics. The trip generation report will also contribute to the ongoing research necessary to develop accurate trip generation estimates for railroad stations.


ABSTRACT:We use US household-level bank account data to investigate the heterogeneous effects of the pandemic on spending and savings. Households across the income distribution all cut spending from March to early April. Since mid-April, spending has rebounded most rapidly for low-income households. We find large increases in liquid asset balances for households throughout the income distribution. However, lower-income households contribute disproportionately to the aggregate increase in balances, relative to their prepandemic shares. Taken together, our results suggest that spending declines in the initial months of the recession were primarily caused by direct effects of the pandemic, rather than resulting from labor market disruptions. The sizable growth in liquid assets we observe for low-income households suggests that stimulus and insurance programs during this period likely played an important role in limiting the effects of labor market disruptions on spending.


Bioweapons and emerging infectious diseases pose formidable and growing threats to our national security. Rapid advances in biotechnology and the increasing efficiency of global transportation networks virtually guarantee that the United States will face potentially devastating infectious disease outbreaks caused by novel ('unknown') pathogens either intentionally or accidentally introduced into the population. Unfortunately, our nation's biodefense and public health infrastructure is primarily designed to handle previously characterized ('known') pathogens. While modern DNA assays can identify known pathogens quickly, identifying unknown pathogens currently depends upon slow, classical microbiological methods of isolation and culture that can take weeks to produce actionable information. In many scenarios that delay would be costly, in terms of casualties and economic damage; indeed, it can mean the difference between a manageable public health incident and a full-blown epidemic. To close this gap in our nation's biodefense capability, we will develop, validate, and optimize a system to extract nucleic acids from unknown pathogens present in clinical samples drawn from infected patients. This system will extract nucleic acids from a clinical sample, amplify pathogen and specific host response nucleic acid sequences. These sequences will then be suitable for ultra-high-throughput sequencing (UHTS) carried out by a third party. The data generated from UHTS will then be processed through a new data assimilation and Bioinformatic analysis pipeline that will allow us to characterize an unknown pathogen in hours to days instead of weeks to months. Our methods will require no a priori knowledge of the pathogen, and no isolation or culturing; therefore it will circumvent many of the major roadblocks confronting a clinical microbiologist or virologist when presented with an unknown or engineered pathogen.


This research, which takes stock market index data as input in contrast to De Bondt and Thaler's (1985) classical approach for testing overreaction hypothesis on a micro scale via individual stocks, is aimed at analyzing reactions of the market in aggregate and portfolio groups, which are represented by indexes. The shock-filtering procedure is based on 50-day window, encompassing observations from 60 days to 11 days prior to an observation as suggested by Lasfer et al. (2003) while volatility has been estimated through Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) method. Indexes resembling each other and significantly differing from others in terms of their reaction on the day of shocks, which are detected by a different threshold have been determined. The analysis implemented separately for two subperiods outputs findings which support the validity of underreaction on all indexes except XUSIN within 2000-2008, in line with the reference researches on indexes. This result is, however valid only for positive shocks. The cautious behavior against good news disappears in the second subperiod (2009-2018). This variation can be regarded as a sign of our market's progress in terms of information efficiency. Putting forth no significant over or underreaction of indexes to shocks, this paper shows results in compatible with the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) which asserts just and timely reactions to shocks.


Variations of nighttime F2 peak height (hmF2) over the American sector during the 28–29 October 2003 storm period were investigated using the National Center for Atmospheric Research Thermosphere‐Ionosphere Electrodynamics Global Circulation Model. The model was generally able to reproduce the ionospheric variations on 28–29 October 2003 observed by the ionosondes. A series of controlled model simulations were subsequently undertaken to examine the effects of electric fields and neutral winds on the ionosphere. The numerical experiments suggest that the dramatic nighttime increase of hmF2 on the storm day 29 October is mainly caused by traveling atmospheric disturbances (TADs) from the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. However, the electric field plays an important role in causing the elevation of hmF2 in the equatorial region. The prompt penetration electric field (PPEF) associated with the southward component of the interplanetary magnetic field (Bz) is westward on the nightside, whereas when Bz reverses and becomes northward, the PPEF is westward in the premidnight and turns to eastward in the postmidnight. These PPEFs greatly affect the low‐latitude ionosphere during storm time. On 28 October, even though the Bz disturbance was weak with a short duration of southward Bz, the TADs from the Southern Hemisphere can propagate to the Northern Hemisphere and result in the corresponding oscillations in the nightside hmF2.


Energy harvesting (EH) in wireless communications has become the focus of recent transmission technology studies. Herein, energy storage modeling is one of the crucial design benchmarks that must be treated carefully. Understanding the energy storage dynamics and the throughput levels is essential especially for communication systems in which the performance depends solely on harvested energy. While energy outages should be avoided, energy overflows should also be prevented in order to utilize all harvested energy. Hence, a simple, yet comprehensive, analytical model that can represent the characteristics of a general class of EH wireless communication systems needs to be established. In this paper, invoking tools from large deviation theory along with Markov processes, a firm connection between the energy state of the battery and the data transmission process over a wireless channel is established for an EH transmitter. In particular, a simple exponential approximation for the energy overflow probability is formulated, with which the energy decay rate in the battery as a measure of energy usage is characterized. Then, projecting the energy outages and supplies on a Markov process, a discrete state model is established and an expression for the energy outage probability for given energy arrival and demand processes is provided. Finally, under energy overflow and outage constraints, the average data service (transmission) rate over the wireless channel is obtained and the effective capacity of the system, which characterizes the maximum data arrival rate at the transmitter buffer under quality-of-service (QoS) constraints imposed on the data buffer overflow probability, is derived.


Background: Poor medication management may contribute to the increased morbidity and mortality of Aboriginal people in Australia. Yet while there is extensive literature about the perceptions of healthcare providers on this issue, there is limited information on the perceptions of Aboriginal people themselves. Objectives: To investigate the perceptions of a group of Aboriginal people attending a Victorian regional Aboriginal Health Service (AHS) with diagnosed medical conditions requiring medications, of their lifestyle, disease management and medication usage. Methods: Data was collected through one to one in depth interviews using a semi-structured 'yarning' process. Twenty patients were invited to participate in the study and were interviewed by Aboriginal Health Workers in a culturally appropriate manner. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: Our results show that the majority of participants perceived that changes in lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and smoking cessation would help improve their health. Most patients reported having been counselled on their medicines, and while the majority reported adherence and acknowledgement of the efficacy of their medicines, there was a lack of clarity regarding long term maintenance on regimens. Finally, while the majority reported taking over the counter products, some did not see the need to inform their doctor about this, or chose not to. Conclusion: Chronic illness was perceived as common in families and community. Patients relied mostly on their health care professionals as sources for their drug information. Patients may have benefited from further counselling in the area of complementary and other over the counter medicines, as well as on the necessity of maintenance of regimes for chronic disease management. Finally, lifestyle changes such as dietary improvements and smoking cessation were identified as areas that may assist in improving health outcomes.


As grant programs dwindle and students are needing to become less reliant on parents to help finance their education, employment while enrolled is shifting from a choice to a near requirement. Collegiate comprehensive recreation programs employ several hundred students annually. Employers must be intentional in creating positions that help meet their needs, but also serve as a co-curricular experience for the student, assisting them in preparation for experiences beyond graduation. This study explores the perceived outcomes of campus recreation employment and the relevance to professional employment. Student employees at a large university with a comprehensive collegiate campus recreation program reported their perceived skill enhancement based on their employment with campus recreation. Data were collected quantitatively and qualitatively. The quantitative data were collected via a paper and pencil survey, distributed and collected at in-service training meetings. All students, employed in December 2015 and January 2016, were invited to complete the survey. This data were analyzed through a comparison of mean scores, one way ANOVA, and independent samples t test. The qualitative data were collected through a series of focus groups. This data demonstrated additional motivation for pursuing employment and what skills they perceived enhancement in and where they would like to see more improvement. The data revealed that student employees did perceive enhancement in some skill areas, but there was opportunity for improvement in others. Students demonstrated a stronger perceived enhancement of skills related to social work skills than technical work skills. This response pattern held true across each employee area. A statistical significant difference was not found between length of employment, at two years, and skill enhancement. The results of the study demonstrate the need for intentional and purposeful employment experiences that not only complete the day to day functions of the job or unit, but provide learning opportunities that are co-curricular, supplementing the classroom experience. Table of


Abstract—The object of this paper is to show the intercorrelations existing between statistics of wildfires (occurrences: N; areas burned: A), climatic parameters (precipitation: P; temperature: T) and net primary productivity: NPP. To this purpose, statistics of wildfires have been studied in several regions of the world, focusing on temperature and precipitation. The present analysis has been performed on French Mediterranean Departments (Bouches-du-Rhône, Hérault, and Var), Northern Ontario (Canada), Alicante Region (Spain), Yellowstone National Park –YNP-(USA), San Diego (California, USA). Concerning the temperature, the monthly analysis of fire occurrence shows two distinct periods with different fire production laws, both being of the Arrhenius type: the first one corresponding to the vegetation during the rest period, the second one during the vegetative production period. Concerning the precipitation, the monthly analysis of fire occurrence led to two distinct laws depending on the region climatic type (or eventually the seasonal characteristics). Thus, the monthly variation of fire occurrence (in log scale) is a linear increasing or decreasing function according to precipitation. In French Mediterranean Regions these expressions are bound to the rate of soil water extraction by the plant roots (a limiting step of plant production?). Out of the intrinsic importance of the presented results, in the field of primary productivity (dependence on Kelvin temperature) it brings a confirmation of the reality of our hypothesis on the role of the limiting steps of plant production in the rate of wildfire production.


Background: Sexual coercion is a well-documented area of research in developed countries. However, this problem is not adequately addressed South Africa, particularly in settings like colleges and university campuses. The study aimed to investigate the predictors of sexual coercion among female undergraduate students at the University of Limpopo; Medunsa Campus, South Africa. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study using the Sexual Experience Survey (SES) tool administered to 335 female students registered for the 2010 academic year. Results: Almost a third (28.7%) of the students experienced sexual coercion which is slightly closer to the international prevalence of 25%. Types of sexual coercion acts included attempted verbal coercion, verbal coercion, date rape, attempted rape, and rape. Date rape was the least unwanted sexual act (2%) experienced by respondents and the highest was rape at 10.7%. Sample mean age was 21 years with the age of 17 to 47 years was more than expected because of the MBCHB program (min period 7yrs). In this study majority of perpetrators of rape were not intimate partners and we found age was not associated with sexual coercion at Medunsa Campus both within the past 12 months and since the age of 14 years. For the students who reside on campus, the odds of being a victim of attempted verbal coercion was 2.085 compared to those students who reside off campus.
Conclusion: Sexual assaults in the university campuses are endemic. Attention needs to be given to rape as it is the most frequent unwanted sexual act experienced by female undergraduate students at Medunsa Campus.


The one truth all athletes share is that their playing career will end, often before retirement age. While research into non-linear career journeys and work identity abounds, little exists into the plight of athletes, despite many having a sense of identity closely linked to what they do. Ten non-technical coaches, from two distinct groups, all of whom work with elite athletes were interviewed, and constructivist grounded theory methodology used to build an evidence-based model of how coaching can support an elite athlete's transition to a second career. The findings show a role for coaching throughout the journey, delivered via different formats along the way.


Introduction: Bilateral vocal fold paralysis (BVFP) is a relatively uncommon cause of respiratory distress. The goals of surgical treatment are an improvement in airway size by enlarging the glottis, thus, eliminating the need for tracheostomy, while at the same time avoiding a breathy voice and aspiration. Striking this balance is extremely important. Unilateral laser-assisted posterior cordotomy provides sufficient airway at posterior glottis while preserving phonatory and protective functions of the larynx. Aims: To evaluate long-term acoustic, aerodynamic and functional results of laser-assisted unilateral posterior cordotomy in BVFP. Materials and Methods: The prospective study includes seven patients of BVFP who underwent unilateral laser-assisted posterior cordotomy. Surgical success was evaluated regarding decannulation rate, time to decannulation and need for the second procedure. Voice assessment was done using voice handicap index (VHI), grade, roughness, breathiness, asthenia, strain and measurement of maximum phonation time (MPT). Effect of deglutition was assessed by the presence or absence and duration of aspiration. Observations and Results: Of seven patients, four had been tracheostomized at some time during their treatment. They were successfully decannulated within an average of 1 week after the surgery. The postoperative respiratory function was adequate for more than routine activity in all patients. None of the patients required a second procedure. VHI values demonstrated that while four patients had no/mild degree of voice handicap, two had moderate and one had a severe degree of handicap. While five patients had a normal MPT, two had a reduced MPT. Perceptual rating by a speech pathologist revealed that while two patients had mild dysphonia, four had moderate dysphonia. None of the patients complained of aspiration postoperatively. Conclusion: Unilateral CO2laser posterior cordotomy is a simple, safe and short surgical technique that creates a satisfactory glottic airway to improve respiration while avoiding aspiration and having minimal to the mild effect on the voice.


LOWER-LID lag with rounding of the lateral canthus is especially common in patients wearing an ocular prosthesis over many years. This technique utilizes the lower lid as a sling. The lateral canthus is revised by the same procedure. Excellent results have been obtained for eight months. This is a preliminary report, since any procedure that is going to be proved effective must be followed up for over two to three years. Method A lateral canthotomy is performed. The lower arm of the lateral canthal tendon is cut at its periosteal insertion (Fig 1). This releases the lower lid and allows it to be freely rotated. A 4-0 silk suture is placed in the cut end of the canthal tendon and the lid is brought up over the upper lid to determine the amount of shortening which is necessitated. This point is marked on the lid margin. Scissors are used to


Rodents in search of food use visual environmental signals and complex spatial strategies and do not return to previously-visited locations, known as the win-shift strategy. The solution to the Olton Octagonal Maze (OOM) involves Working Memory (WM). A modified OOM was used that allows for measuring WM and Long Term Memory (LTM). The delayed spatial win-shift task consisted of a Training and Test phase separated by a delay. Prior to the Training phase, four arms were chosen at random and blocked, and food pellets were placed in the food cups of the four remaining open arms. Each rat was allowed to retrieve the pellets from the four open arms and then return to its home cage for the delay period (either 5 or 20 min). In the Test phase all 8 lanes were open, and the bait was placed in those blocked in the previous phase. Two experimental groups of rats, Long Evans and Norvegicus, and their corresponding control groups were trained. The experimental subjects performed Training-Delay-Test. The controls were only trained in the Test phase. Revisiting an arm previously explored in the 1st Phase was considered a LTM error. Revisiting an arm in the same trial constituted a WM error. It was concluded that the experimental groups do in fact possess LTM, with differences in favor of Norvegicus. There was no difference with respect to WM errors. The Norvegicus control group changes its strategy from allocentric to egocentric, which did not occur in the Long Evans control group.


Abstract Active at the height of the apartheid regime, the Eoan Group treated South Africans to operas 'in the true tradition of Italy'. The group relied on elaborate, naturalistic stage settings and the most stereotypical of operatic conventions to construct a hereditary link between itself and Italy, thus creating an alignment with the cultural ideal of Europe and its colonial representative – whiteness. This article offers a materialist reading of the Eoan Group's first operatic endeavour, La traviata in 1956, to argue that their invocation and emulation of the 'Italian tradition' served to situate them within a class-based discourse of racially inscribed civility. Drawing on archival records relating to props, costumes, advertisements and funding, it shows how the group constructed an imagined Italian heritage both to emphasise the quality of their productions, and to create an affinity with their white audiences. In this reading, the construction of an Italian operatic tradition functions not as a neutral aesthetic category, but as a historically situated politics of race and class.


This thesis deals with the development and application of new synthetic methodology in organic chemistry. The first part describes the development of a new protocol for the synthesis of 3-pyrrolines by means of a microwave-assisted ring-expansion reaction of 2-vinylaziridines. In addition, this methodology is implemented as a key-step in a formal total synthesis of the antibiotic (-)-anisomycin. In the second part, a new methodology for the synthesis of arylglycines from Weinreb amides is described. In this procedure, a Grignard reagent is added to the iminium ion formed from the Weinreb amide upon treatment with a base. When a chiral amide is used, the nucleophilic addition proceeds with high diastereoselectivity. Finally, an easy and straightforward synthesis of α-amino amides via a base-mediated rearrangement of modified Weinreb amides into N,O-acetals is presented. Subsequent arylation, alkylation, alkenylation or alkynylation of this intermediate affords the corresponding α-amino amides in excellent yields. Furthermore, a more generalized protocol for the α-arylation of Weinreb amides lacking an α-amino moiety is also discussed.


Key points among the findings Alcohol â?"how much and what we drink â?¢ In 2014 Irish drinkers consumed 11 litres of pure alcohol each. This is equal to 29 litres of vodka, 116 bottles of wine or 445 pints of beer. â?¢ Current per capita consumption is 21% higher than the Department of Health steering groupâ?Ts target which sets out to reduce per capita consumption, from 11.0 litres of pure alcohol per person to 9.1 litres. â?¢ In 2012 Ireland had the fourth highest alcohol consumption level among 36 OECD countries after Estonia, France and Lithuania. â?¢ It is not just what Irish people drink, but the way they drink that causes harm. In 2013 the HRB Alcohol Diary survey showed that more than 50% of Irish drinkers consume alcohol in a harmful manner â?" too much alcohol in one sitting and more than the recommended number of standard drinks in a week. Alcohol â?" the impact on our health â?¢ The number of people discharged from hospital whose condition was totally attributable to alcohol rose by 82% between 1995 and 2013, from 9,420 to 17,120. Males accounted for 72% of these discharges and females 28%. â?¢ There has also been a steady increase in the mean length of stay (LOS) for hospital discharges, from 6.0 days in 1995 to 10.1 days in 2013, which suggests that patients with alcohol-related diagnoses are becoming more complex in terms of their illness. â?¢ The rate of alcoholic liver disease discharges grew threefold between 1995 and 2013. The highest rate of increase was observed among 15â?"34 year-olds, albeit from a low rate. â?¢ The number of people discharged whose condition was partially attributed to alcohol increased from 52,491 in 2007 to 57,110 in 2011. This is approximately three times the number of discharges totally attributable to alcohol. â?¢ Between 2001 and 2010, one in ten breast cancer cases were attributable to alcohol. â?¢ Three people died each day in 2013 as a result of drinking alcohol. â?¢ In 2014, one- in-three self-harm presentations were alcohol-related. â?¢ An estimated 167,170 people suffered an alcohol-related assault. â?¢ A total of 7,549 cases entered treatment in 2013 with alcohol as their main problem drug. These cases were predominantly male and median age was 39-40 years. This is a decrease of just over 12% since 2011. This decrease could reflect a true decrease in the number of cases, reduced levels of participation or under-reporting or a combination of these factors. Alcohol â?" impact on the economy and tax payer â?¢ In 2013, alcohol-related discharges accounted for 160,211 bed days in public hospitals, that is 3.6% of all bed days that year; compared to 56,264 bed days or 1.7% of the total number of bed days in 1995. â?¢ â,¬1.5 billion is the cost to the tax-payer for alcohol-related discharges from hospital. That is equal to â,¬1 for every â,¬10 spent on public health in 2012. This excludes the cost of emergency cases, GP visits, psychiatric admissions and alcohol treatment services. â?¢ An estimated 5,315 people on the Live Register in November 2013 had lost their job due to alcohol use. â?¢ The estimated cost of alcohol-related absenteeism was â,¬41,290,805 in 2013.


The prevailing outlook among analysts before the advent of the recent social movements in North Africa and a number of Arab Middle Eastern countries indicated that the region will continue to resist the wave of democratization. The fall of several authoritarian regimes and continuity of social movements has generated serious doubts in this outlook, leading to the appearance of promising horizons for democratization. This paper argues that these social movements originate from the exacerbating legitimacy crisis of authoritarian governments and rising political, social and economic dissatisfaction of the general public, including the youth and the modern middle class. This work seeks to answer the question: what are the major sociological origins and precipitating factors influencing the advent of social movements in the Middle East and North Africa? In response, it can be argued that the advent of social movements in a number of Middle East and North African countries is rooted in the legitimacy crisis, as well as rising political, social and economic dissatisfaction of the general public, the youth and the modern middle class in recent decades. The web-based social networks and cell phones acted as precipitating factors in the massive mobilization and integration of mass protests and those of the modern middle class and the fall of a number of authoritarian regimes. These movements are notably characterized by being comprehensive, Islamic, democratic, anti-despotic, independence-seeking, and highly reliant on new information and communications technologies. The web-based social networks served as a precipitating factor in massive mobilization of the aforementioned strata within the context of an exacerbated legitimacy crisis and the gap between the state and the society rather than as a structural deep-rooted factor.


Insects are the most important, in terms of number and diversity, group of animals on the earth. Insects have colonized all the world's environments and are associated with both human life and death. Although their economical and sanitary importance is well documented, in the past few years they have been used also in a forensic context. In forensic entomology, necrophagous insects have proved useful in; studying postmortem interval (PMI), postmortem transfer (the movement of a body from one location to another after death), presence of drugs or poisons, and in identifying the victim and/or the suspect. Many species can be used to estimate the minimum PMI (mPMI), according to the stage of cadaver decomposition, body exposure, geographical region, and season. The most important British flies of forensic interest are described.


In order to meet the requirements of high performance flexible electronics in fast growing portable consumer electronics, robotics and new fields such as Internet of Things (IoT), new techniques such as electronics based on nanostructures, molecular electronics and quantum electronics have emerged recently. The importance given to the silicon chips with thickness below 50 μm is particularly interesting as this will advance the 3D IC technology as well as open new directions for high-performance flexible electronics. This doctoral thesis focusses on the development of silicon–based ultra-thin chip (UTC) for the next generation flexible electronics. UTCs, on one hand can provide processing speed at par with state-of-the-art CMOS technology, and on the other provide the mechanical flexibility to allow smooth integration on flexible substrates. These development form the motivation behind the work presented in this thesis.
As the thickness of any silicon piece decreases, the flexural rigidity decreases. The flexural rigidity is defined as the force couple required to bend a non-rigid structure to a unit curvature, and therefore the flexibility increases. The new approach presented in this thesis for achieving thin silicon exploits existing and well-established silicon infrastructure, process, and design modules. The thin chips of thicknesses ranging between 15 μm – 30 μm, were obtained from processed bulk wafer using anisotropic chemical etching. The thesis also presents thin wafer transfer using two-step transfer printing approach, packaging by lamination or encapsulation between two flexible layerand methods to get the electrical connections out of the chip. The devices realised on the wafer as part of front-end processing, consisted capacitors and transistors, have been tested to analyse the effect of bending on the electrical characteristics. The capacitance of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) capacitors increases by ~5% during bending and similar shift is observed in flatband and threshold voltages. Similarly, the carrier mobility in the channel region of metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET) increases by 9% in tensile bending and decreases by ~5% in compressive bending. The analytical model developed to capture the effect of banding on device performance showed close matching with the experimental results.
In order to employ these devices as tactile sensors, two types of piezoelectric materials are investigated, and used in extended gate configuration with the MOSFET. Firstly, a nanocomposite of Poly(vinylidene fluoride-co-trifluoroethylene), P(VDF-TrFE) and barium titanate (BT) was developed. The composite, due to opposite piezo and pyroelectric coefficients of constituents, was able to suppress the sensitivity towards temperature when force and temperature varied together, The sensitivity to force in extended gate configuration was measured to be 630 mV/N, and sensitivity to temperature was 6.57 mV/oC, when it was varied during force application.
The process optimisation for sputtering piezoelectric Aluminium Nitride (AlN) was also carried out with many parametric variation. AlN does not require poling to exhibit piezoelectricity and therefore offers an attractive alternative for the piezoelectric layer used in devices such as POSFET (where piezoelectric material is directly deposited over the gate area of MOSFET). The optimised process gave highly orientated columnar structure AlN with piezoelectric coefficient of 5.9 pC/N and when connected in extended gate configuration, a sensitivity (normalised change in drain current per unit force) of 2.65 N-1 was obtained.


Although we associate toleration with the norms and institutions needed to navigate moral conflict within individual states, John Rawls has proposed an international norm of toleration as part of his theory of international justice. While Rawls's approach is ultimately untenable, I argue that the European Union can benefit from thinking about its external action for global justice in terms of toleration. In part, this is because the standard approaches to toleration—classical, neutral and toleration as recognition—have strong, if uneven, affinities with the three approaches to global justice identified by GLOBUS. After considering the implications of all three theories of toleration and global justice for the EU's external action, I argue that the EU is unable to engage in the strong recognition of cultures and practices that conflict with its values that is urged by both toleration and justice as recognition. The EU's strong commitment to its values and the exigencies of its external action require that it not abandon these values in its foreign policy or the international systems that promote them. Nevertheless, the EU can engage in some practices of recognition that avoid the deficiencies of approaches—like 'justice as non-domination' and 'justice as impartiality'—that do not include recognition as an essential part. This form of recognition focuses on including individuals, groups and states on the basis of their membership of a group entitled to recognition and inclusion, not as adherents or representatives of conflicting cultural and religious values and practices.


Many literature reviews have shown that Webbased Instruction (WBI) is an effective learning tool for general education courses which require lower order thinking skills.There is not sufficient evidence to support the effectiveness of WBI in teaching courses which require higher order thinking skills, critical thinking. Therefore, the main question is whether Web-based Instruction can successfully promote critical thinking. The purpose of this paper is to find an answer to this question. It also will identify the teaching strategies and instructional designs which will successfully promote critical thinking in an electronic learning environment. Some preliminary result of this review could be articulated as follow: Critical thinking is significantly anchored within curricula and related teaching goal. It is highly correlated with students' achievements. According to Dick's taxonomy critical thinking consists of identifying the arguments, considering external influences on the involved elements, applying scientific analytical reasoning, outlining chain of logical orders, and make conclusion. WBI can be an effective medium of instruction for promoting critical thinking if it is delivered on an instructional design specially developed for WBI


In this work, we consider the problem of designing efficient feedback-based scheduling policies for chunked codes (CC) over single-path (line) networks with stochastic (queuing) delay. The state of the art in such policies are random push (RP) and local-rarest-first (LRF), which outperform the original policy of CC, namely the uniformly-at-random policy, in terms of the expected throughput even without any knowledge about the delay model. To our knowledge, however, this work is the first attempt to discover how much better one policy can do in an ideal case with perfect feedback when the model of delay is perfectly known. Towards this goal, we propose a new policy, referred to as transmitted-innovation-maximizer (TIM), based on the expected number of innovative packet transmissions at each transmitting node of the network by the next transmission time given the feedback information from the receiving node about the received packets. Our simulations show that TIM provides significantly larger (tighter) lower bounds on the maximum expected throughput (compared to the tightest existing bounds provided by LRF and RP), and thus it can be considered as the newest benchmark in this emerging line of research.


A large hypoxic zone forms every summer on the Texas-Louisiana Shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico due to nutrient and freshwater inputs from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River System. Efforts are underway to reduce the extent of hypoxic conditions through reductions in river nutrient inputs, but the response of hypoxia to such nutrient load reductions is difficult to predict because biological responses are confounded by variability in physical processes. The objective of this study is to identify the major physical model aspects that matter for hypoxia simulation and prediction. In order to do so, we compare three different circulation models (ROMS, FVCOM, and NCOM) implemented for the northern Gulf of Mexico, all coupled to the same simple oxygen model, with observations and against each other. By using a highly simplified oxygen model, we eliminate the potentially confounding effects of a full biogeochemical model and can isolate the effects of physical features. In a systematic assessment, we found that (1) model-to-model differences in bottom water temperatures result in differences in simulated hypoxia because temperature influences the uptake rate of oxygen by the sediments (an important oxygen sink in this system), (2) vertical stratification does not explain model-to-model differences in hypoxic conditions in a straightforward way, and (3) the thickness of the bottom boundary layer, which sets the thickness of the hypoxic layer in all three models, is key to determining the likelihood of a model to generate hypoxic conditions. These results imply that hypoxic area, the commonly used metric in the northern Gulf which ignores hypoxic layer thickness, is insufficient for assessing a model's ability to accurately simulate hypoxia, and that hypoxic volume needs to be considered as well.


This thesis describes case study research investigation into re-shoring UK manufacturing
using Additive Manufacturing as a method to enable manufacturing Postponement. After
identifying the gap in the knowledge by conducting a literature review, the author aims to
understand the primary motivation behind the re-shoring phenomenon in the UK. The
initial investigation is done by targeting the UK based organisations that have been
involved in supporting the re-shoring phenomenon. As a result, lack of responsiveness was
found to be the key factor behind re-shoring in the UK. This is then followed by an
investigation considering this issue from countries to which manufacturing has been
offshored in the past, in particular, India. The research studies the factors that influence
this decision from Indian industries perspectives and investigates what the key issues are
behind the lack of responsiveness in India. This is whilst India is one of the most attractive
offshoring destinations among the other low-cost countries. This introduces the next
objective of this research which is to identify a strategy that could help the industries to
address such issues. Consequently the concept of Postponement was selected as a strategy
and Additive Manufacturing (AM) was identified as a manufacturing method that could
enable Postponement. Such a combination can enable companies to shorten their lead-time
and be more responsive to their domestic customers. This study also develops a clear
picture of re-shoring in the UK and bridges this phenomenon to the new generation of
technologies and emerging mega trends. It particularly focuses on AM technologies as an
enabling manufacturing method the Industry 4.0. The results obtained from the survey
study indicate that there is a positive view towards applicability of AM technologies within
the supply chain of the re-shoring companies. The final section of this thesis aims to
iii
provide a series of case studies where AM technologies are used to further enable
companies to reduce their lead time and achieve more customisation. It shows that the
companies can re-shore their production activities back to the home country by using AM
technologies and engage in a local supply chain. Therefore this study adds insight into
manufacturing challenges related to re-shoring and provides a potential solution for the
companies that are involved in the production of high value added production. The results
from this section indicate that the re-shoring companies will be capable of accommodating
product changes and process changes. They can also reduce their inventories, production
lead-time, and transportation costs, meanwhile increase product customisation.


Background Adenoma detection rate (ADR) is a proven quality metric for colonoscopy. The value of ADR for the evaluation of gastroenterology fellows is not well established. The aim of this study is to calculate and evaluate the utility of ADR as a measure of competency for gastroenterology fellows. Methods Colonoscopies for the purposes of screening and surveillance, on which gastroenterology fellows participated at the Richard L. Roudebush VAMC (one of the primary training sites at Indiana University), during a 9-month period, were included. ADR, cecal intubation rate, and indirect withdrawal time were measured. These metrics were compared between the levels of training. Results A total of 591 screening and surveillance colonoscopies were performed by 14 fellows. This included six, four and four fellows, in the first, second and third year of clinical training, respectively. Fellows were on rotation at the VAMC for a mean of 1.9 months (range 1 to 3 months) during the study period. The average ADR was 68.8% (95% CI 65.37 - 72.24). The average withdrawal time was 27.59 min (95% CI 23.45 - 31.73). The average cecal intubation rate was 99% (95% CI 98-100%). There was no significant difference between ADRs, cecal intubation rates, and withdrawal times at different levels of training; however, a trend toward swifter withdrawal times with advancing training was noted. Conclusions ADR appears not to be a useful measure of competency for gastroenterology fellows. Consideration should be given to alternative metrics that could avoid bias and confounders.


There is a current debate on whether the cognitive system has a shared representation for all magnitudes or whether there are unique representations. To investigate this question, we used the Biber cognitive estimation task. In this task, participants were asked to provide estimates for questions such as, "How many sticks of spaghetti are in a package?" The task uses different estimation categories (e.g., time, numerical quantity, distance, and weight) to look at real-life magnitude representations. Experiment 1 assessed (N = 95) a Hebrew version of the Biber Cognitive Estimation Task and found that different estimation categories had different relations, for example, weight, time, and distance shared variance, but numerical estimation did not. We suggest that numerical estimation does not require the use of measurement in units, hence, it represents a more "pure" numerical estimation. Experiment 2 found that different factors explain individual abilities in different estimation categories. For example, numerical estimation was predicted by preverbal innate quantity understanding (approximate number sense) and working memory, whereas time estimations were supported by IQ. These results demonstrate that cognitive estimation is not a unified construct.


o m a r a z f a r 8 D uring the 1990s, Vladimir Montesinos, the chief of Peru's secret police under Alberto Fujimori, bought off the media, the opposition, the judiciary, and the armed forces, extracting large rents for himself and possibly Fujimori. 1 Such systems of rent extraction are not rare. In fact, hybrid regimes that are democratic but lack genuine political competition represent a significant and rising proportion of the world's governments (Diamond 2002). While in some cases the goals of such regimes may simply be power itself, in most cases at least a secondary purpose is rent extraction. This chapter examines how these systems can be disrupted. The first part of the chapter analyzes how an honest principal can deal with incidental corruption. It compares two strains of the literature on cor-ruption—the economics of crime (prevention) and principal-agent theory—and proposes some concrete policies and reforms that could help alter incentives in incidentally corrupt systems. The second part addresses the problem—widespread in developing countries—of the sale of jobs and the effect the practice has on mechanisms of accountability. The third part analyzes corruption that involves the principal (systemic corruption). The fourth part draws on evidence from case studies of Belarus, Brazil, Kenya, and Turkey to show how systems of corruption can be exposed, disrupted, and eliminated. The chapter closes with recommendations about what various actors—citizens, the media, activists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), universities , foreign governments, aid agencies, the World Bank, and local governments—can do to prevent and expose systemic corruption.


In engineering and science, a multitude of problems exhibit an inherently geometric nature. The computational assessment of such problems requires an adequate representation by means of data structures and processing algorithms. One of the most widely adopted and recognized spatial data structures is the Delaunay triangulation which has its canonical dual in the Voronoi diagram. While the Voronoi diagram provides a simple and elegant framework to model spatial proximity, the core of which is the concept of natural neighbors, the Delaunay triangulation provides robust and efficient access to it. This combination explains the immense popularity of Voronoi- and Delaunay-based methods in all areas of science and engineering. This thesis addresses aspects from a variety of applications that share their affinity to the Voronoi diagram and the natural neighbor concept. First, an idea for the generalization of B-spline surfaces to unstructured knot sets over Voronoi diagrams is investigated. Then, a previously proposed method for \(C^2\) smooth natural neighbor interpolation is backed with concrete guidelines for its implementation. Smooth natural neighbor interpolation is also one of many applications requiring derivatives of the input data. The generation of derivative information in scattered data with the help of natural neighbors is described in detail. In a different setting, the computation of a discrete harmonic function in a point cloud is considered, and an observation is presented that relates natural neighbor coordinates to a continuous dependency between discrete harmonic functions and the coordinates of the point cloud. Attention is then turned to integrating the flexibility and meritable properties of natural neighbor interpolation into a framework that allows the algorithmically transparent and smooth extrapolation of any known natural neighbor interpolant. Finally, essential properties are proved for a recently introduced novel finite element tessellation technique in which a Delaunay triangulation is transformed into a unique polygonal tessellation.


In this paper we evaluate the premise from the recent literature on Monte Carlo studies that an empirically motivated simulation exercise is informative about the actual ranking of various estimators when applied to a particular problem. We consider two alternative designs and provide an empirical test for both of them. We conclude that a necessary condition for the simulations to be informative about the true ranking is that the treatment effect in simulations must be equal to the (unknown) true effect. This severely limits the usefulness of such procedures, since were the effect known, the procedure would not be necessary.


The publication of this monograph was accompanied, in January 2007, by a season of screenings of eight quota films at the National Film Theatre (BFI South Bank), London. Chibnall advised on the selection of the prints from the National Film Archive, wrote programme notes for seven of the screenings, and delivered a public lecture at the NFT on the consequences of the 1927 Cinematograph Films Act for low-budget production in Britain. Papers based on this research were delivered at The Screen Conference, Glasgow; The Institute of Historical Research, London (invited), and the Michael Powell Centenary Conference, University of Bangor in 2005.


Temporal modelling is the key for efficient video action recognition. While understanding temporal information can improve recognition accuracy for dynamic actions, removing temporal redundancy and reusing past features can significantly save computation leading to efficient action recognition. In this paper, we introduce an adaptive temporal fusion network, called AdaFuse, that dynamically fuses channels from current and past feature maps for strong temporal modelling. Specifically, the necessary information from the historical convolution feature maps is fused with current pruned feature maps with the goal of improving both recognition accuracy and efficiency. In addition, we use a skipping operation to further reduce the computation cost of action recognition. Extensive experiments on Something V1&V2, Jester and Mini-Kinetics show that our approach can achieve about 40% computation savings with comparable accuracy to state-of-the-art methods. The project page can be found at https://mengyuest.github.io/AdaFuse/


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Hyperthermia damages both developing and adult brains, especially when it occurs after ischemia or stroke. Work presented in this dissertation used in vitro models of these stresses to investigate mechanisms underlying damage to young neurons and neural precursors cultured from embryonic rat brain. Studies described in Chapter 2 investigated the effects of a brief, intense hyperthermic stress (30-45 min at 43ºC). This stress produced a selective depletion of nestin-immunoreactive neural precursor cells, and reduced proliferation, as evidenced by reduced BrdU incorporation into young Tuj1-immunoreactive neurons. The stress activated caspase 3, and produced multiple signs of nuclear damage as well as early and persisting mitochondrial depolarization. Cycloheximide, an inhibitor of protein synthesis, reduced cell death. All these findings suggest an apoptotic death process. Studies described in Chapter 3 used a combination of oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD, 2 h) followed by mild 41ºC hyperthermia for 90 min (T). The combined OGDT stress reduced both survival in monolayer cultures and colony-forming ability in neurospheres. Cell death occurred gradually over 2 days, and was accompanied by caspase activation that began within 6 h post-stress. Post-stress application of cycloheximide or a general caspase inhibitor (especially qVD-OPH) reduced cell death, but specific inhibitors of caspases 2, 3, 8 or 9 were ineffective. OGDT led to upregulation of the pro-apoptotic protein Bim as well as redistribution of Bax from cytoplasm to mitochondria within 6 h. Persisting mitochondrial depolarization began within 3 h following the combined OGDT stress, but not following individual OGD or T stresses alone. These findings suggest that OGD sensitizes neural precursor cells to hyperthermia-induced damage, and that the combined OGDT stress kills neural precursors via apoptotic mechanisms that include activation of mitochondrial death pathways. Results of these studies suggest that young neurons and neural precursors are especially vulnerable to hyperthermia-induced damage via apoptotic mechanisms. Pan-caspase inhibitors may be a promising therapeutic strategy to preserve viability of these cells following stroke with hyperthermia. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


The touristic regionalization, in most cases, is performed by taking into account the tourism potential as main reference, in this respect numerous methodologies having attempted to quantify as balanced as possible both the natural tourism potential and the man-made one. Beyond its great theoretical importance, their actual, practical and statistical value is yet limited, given that all economic and socio-political analyses, reports and comparisons have a mandatory administrative dimension, too. These present realities constitute the main reason why we believe that a deepening of regionalization which takes into consideration, more than others made so far, the administrative component, on the one hand, and the actual revaluation, on the other hand, embodied in the existence of specific infrastructure, which together with the tourism potential shall determine the attraction of tourist flows. In this respect, we tried to consider, to share and to model a large number of indicators to reach an outcome which provides a more real, synthetic and complete image (8 data sets were structured and combined, calculating 13 indicators, subsequently synthesized into 5, which led to the preparation of maps: afterwards these were overlapped for county level, respectively their average at the level of development regions. Such a regionalization also reflects the real role that tourism plays in the economic balance of counties, respectively development regions.


Developing countries are presently experiencing or are shortly expected to see a "youth bulge" (a large number of young people in the national population) — some 71 in total and 11 in Asia alone — will face relatively greater employment and human capital investment challenges as a result of the global economic crisis and its medium term ramifications. Additionally, gender inequalities could also be exacerbated by the global crisis, increasing the risks particularly for female youth. To help address these issues and as a contribution to the policy discussions toward a more inclusive social and economic recovery from the crisis, this paper examines the extent to which countries with imminent or anticipated youth bulges, combined with historically persistent gender inequality, are likely to be impacted by the crisis. As a second contribution this paper develops a framework for understanding the risks faced by girls throughout the lifecycle, with an additional focus on intergenerational transmission of poverty.


Libertarianism about free will is the view that we have free will, and that our having it is incompatible with causal determinism. This view that is sometimes held to underpin moral and criminal responsibility, as well as retributive punishment. In its contemporary forms, it is standardly presented as compatible with a broadly scientific picture of the world. This paper argues that there is good reason — grounded in empirical data — to think that libertarianism about free will is not a product of disinterested reasoning about the requirements of free will, responsibility, or retributive punishment. Instead, both empirical and conceptual considerations suggest that libertarianism is largely a product of motivated reasoning by theists, i.e., believers in the existence of God. This essay develops the case for that conclusion, and considers its consequences.


OBJECTIVE
To characterize the biological behavior and prognostic factors associated with hemangiosarcoma in cats.

DESIGN
Retrospective case series.

ANIMALS
53 cats with hemangiosarcoma.

PROCEDURES
Data were retrieved from a state veterinary diagnostic laboratory, 3 veterinary colleges, and a private practice.

RESULTS
Cutaneous and subcutaneous tumor locations were more common than visceral (abdominal and thoracic) and oral locations. Surgical excision was the primary treatment in 47 cats. Tumor-free surgical margins were more likely in cutaneous than subcutaneous lesions and were associated with longer survival times. Local recurrence was observed in 6 of 12 cats with subcutaneous lesions for which follow-up was available. Metastatic disease was detected in 5 of 13 cats with adequate staging at initial diagnosis. A sixth cat had pulmonary metastases at the time of euthanasia. In 4 of 10 cats with visceral hemangiosarcoma, the diagnosis was made at necropsy or they were euthanized at the time of diagnosis. Adjuvant therapy was uncommonly used. Eighteen of the 21 known deaths or euthanasias were tumor-related. Higher mitotic counts (> 3 in 10 hpfs) were associated with shorter survival times.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Subcutaneous hemangiosarcoma was more biologically aggressive than the cutaneous form and was more likely to recur locally and result in euthanasia or death of the cat. Metastatic potential of the cutaneous and subcutaneous forms may be greater than previously reported. Visceral hemangiosarcoma is associated with a grave prognosis.


Focusing on a global value chain (GVC) for organic basmati rice, we study how farmers' practices are governed through product and process standards, organic certification protocols, and contracts with buyer firms. We analyze how farmers' entry into the GVC reconfigures their agencements (defined as heterogeneous arrangements of human and nonhuman agencies which are associated with each other). These reconfigurations entail the severance of some associations among procedural and material elements of the agencements and the formation of new associations, in order to produce cultivation practices that are accurately described by the GVC's standards and protocols. Based on ethnography of two farmers in Uttarakhand, North India, we find that the same standards were enacted differently on the two farmers' fields, producing variable degrees of (selective) compliance with the 'official' GVC standards. We argue that the disjuncture between the 'official' scripts of the standards and actual cultivation practices must be nurtured to allow farmers' agencements to align their practices with local sociotechnical relations and farm ecology. Furthermore, we find that compliance and disjuncture were facilitated by many practices and associations that were officially ungoverned by the GVC.


In their natural environment, bacteria are often found as sessile populations, known as biofilms, typified by surface adherence and extracellular matrix production. This growth
phase confers broad spectrum antibiotic recalcitrance, through undefined mechanisms. This work sought to investigate a role for increased mutability ofstaphylococci in biofilms, as a contributing mechanism in biofilm antibiotic recalcitrance.

Initially, a novel biofilm model for use with staphylococci was established that utilised cellulose disks and incorporated human plasma to promote bacterial surface
adherence. This system was validated by demonstrating antibiotic recalcitrance, dissemination by D-amino acids, and similarities with transcriptional profiles of other
biofilm models.

Using this novel biofilm model, and the Sorbarod flow system, mutation frequencies (MFs) were determined for Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus
epidermidis in biofilms and compared with those in planktonic cultures. This revealed increases in MF of up to 68-fold compared with planktonic cultures. The role of oxidative stress in biofilm mutability was investigated by addition of antioxidants to biofilms. Here, MFs were reduced up to 5-fold, suggesting a role for oxidative damage. Transcriptional profiling of biofilms revealed upregulation of several genes involved in DNA
repair, compared with planktonic cultures. Genes encoding antioxidant activity were also investigated; of these only sodA was upregulated. Staphyloxanthin biosysthetic genes,
however, were downregulated.

During these studies, S. aureus biofilms were found to generate phenotypic variants. White variants (WVs) and large pale variants (LPVs) were mostly found amongst
cells shed from biofilms. WVs had lost biofilm forming capacity and had mutations in the alternative sigma factor, SigB. LPVs retained biofilm forming capacity, but the genetic basis of their variation remains undefined.

In summary, I have shown that staphylococci exhibit enhanced mutability in biofilms, accelerating the emergence of antibiotic resistance and morphological variants.
This may result from oxidative stress, causing the enhanced accumulation of mutations within the genome.


In this study, the effectiveness of the Interstate-35W variable advisory speed limit system on the improvement of the traffic flow was evaluated with the real traffic data. The analysis results indicate there was significant reduction in the average maximum deceleration and also the traffic time reliability was substantially improved during a peak hour period. Based on the assessment results, an enhanced version was developed to be able to reflect more effectively the time-variant road traffic conditions in determining the variable speed limits in real time. The coordinated adaptive metering strategy, developed in the previous phase of this research, is also enhanced and implemented in the field in this research. The field test results of the new metering system with the Highway 100 northbound corridor indicate substantial improvements in both the mainline and ramp traffic performance compared with those from the old stratified algorithm.


This paper presents the first robust causal estimates of the effect of weather on the allocation of children's time. It uses individual-level data from over 45,000 time-use diaries of children from two nationally representative cohorts of Australian children whose time-use diaries were surveyed biannually over 10 years to measure the time allocation of children and exploits exogenous variations in local weather conditions observed during the random diary dates. Unfavourable weather conditions, as represented by cold or hot temperature or rain, cause children to switch activities from outdoors to indoors, mainly by reducing the time allocated to active pursuits and travel and increasing the time allocated to media. The effects of weather are more pronounced on weekends and are heterogeneous across different population sub-groups. The results also provide some evidence of adaptation, as temperature tends to have greater impact not only in winter months but also in colder regions. The findings are robust to a wide range of sensitivity checks, including controlling for individual fixed effects and using alternative model specifications.


The aim of this thesis is to de-center Christianity from medieval scholarship in a study of canonized northwestern European war narratives from the late antiquity to the late Middle Ages by unraveling three complex theological frameworks interweaved with Scandinavian polytheistic beliefs. These frameworks are presented in three chapters concerning warrior cults, war rituals, and battle iconography. Beowulf, The History of the Kings of Britain, and additional passages from The Wanderer and The Dream of the Rood are recognized as the primary texts in the study with supporting evidence from An Ecclesiastical History of the English People, eighth-century eddaic poetry, thirteenth-century Icelandic and Nordic sagas, and Le Morte d'Arthur. The study consistently found that it is necessary to alter current pedagogical habits in order to better develop the study of theology in medieval literature by avoiding the conciliatory practice of reading for Christian hegemony.


This paper examines the questions concerning whether and how the domains of science and science education might expand the practical and conceptual landscape available to artistic and creative educators. It does so through a philosophical inquiry that parallels that of Martin Heidegger's in his seminal work: On the origin of the work of art. Following alongside, and in constant dialogue with Heidegger's arguments, this paper explores the nature of things and practices in science education and the relationship between the two. This inquiry allows us to re-imagine the landscape of science education in terms of key pairing between things, works and truth. In doing so, we come to better understand and appreciate the extent of the educational landscape that both art and science educators share.


Polymeric architectures with controlled and well-defined structural features are required to render a sustainable antibacterial surface - a key requirement in the design of polymeric membranes for water purification. Herein, surface selective crosslinking of copper oxide-polyphosphoester (CuO-PPE) hybrid nanogels on to polyvinylidene fluoride-styrene maleic anhydride (PVDF/SMA) ultrafiltration membranes was developed. The hybrid nanogels, composed of PPE and CuO, with inherent antifouling and antibacterial properties, were crosslinked using a macroinitiator (polyethylene glycol, PEG) and subsequently grafted on to PVDF/SMA by alkyne-anhydride reaction. Partially hydrolysed SMA solubilizes membrane proteins and the phosphatase/phospholipase triggers the cleavage of PPE segments resulting in controlled release of Cu ions. This unique strategy renders the membrane surface antibacterial through sustained and controlled release of Cu ions thereby generating intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). In addition, the enhanced antibiofouling performance of these membranes is facilitated by the presence of the hydrophilic macroinitiator (PEG and PPE). The modified membranes designed in this study are durable and possess long-term stability due to strong covalent interaction between CuO-PPE and the PVDF/SMA membrane. Studies on the flux, porosity and protein adsorption of the membranes were performed. An enhanced flux recovery ratio was observed for the modified membrane due to the pendant PPE groups (from CuO-PPE) which prohibit irreversible protein adsorption on the PVDF surface. The cytotoxicity of CuO-PPE is greatly reduced because of an effective coverage of CuO by biocompatible PPEs. This study opens up new avenues of fabricating "smart" inorganic nanoparticles that can be confined in a soft hybrid polymeric gel network with controlled release of Cu ions thereby precluding ubiquitous bacterial treatment in water filtration systems.


First-hand account of the rise and fall of a scientific paradigm Shows how scientific fiction turns to fact Highlights the origin of scientific hype Includes interviews with prominent scientists The network paradigm dominated immunological research from the early 1970s to the late 1980s. The originator, Niels Jerne, hypothesized that the vast diversity of antibodies in each individual forms a network of mutual "idiotypic" recognition, thus regulating the immune system. In context of emerging concepts of systems biology such as cybernetics and autopoesis, the "Eigenbehavior" of the immune system fascinated an entire generation of young immunologists. But fascination led to experimental errors and overinterpretation, eventually magnifying the immune system from a mere infection-fighting device to a substrate of personality and individuality. As a result, what initially appeared as an exciting new perspective of the immune system is now viewed as a scientific vagary, and is largely abandoned. The author, himself a participant in the network vagary, begins with a description of the leading theoretical concepts on fact finding in science. This is followed by a historical account of the rise and fall of the network paradigm, complemented by personal interviews with some of the prominent protagonists. By comparing the network paradigm to other, more lasting concepts in life science, the author develops a general perspective on how solid knowledge is derived from error-prone scientific methodology, namely by exposure of scientific notions to the scrutiny of reality.


Introduction: Anticipating the information needs of undergraduate medical students can be challenging, especially within the context of distributed medical education at a satellite campus. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how first- and second-year medical students in the Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick program are using their satellite campus' library services and if they would prefer to use their home institution's electronic collection as opposed to print collections from the satellite campus library. Methods: First- and second-year medical students were asked to complete a paper survey towards the end of their academic year, which focused on background information, study habits, access preferences and tendencies (print book vs. electronic), satisfaction with their physical library space and collection, as well as their likelihood of completing required course readings. Results: Although both groups actually used electronic books more than print, the first-year class stated a preference for print books. Overall students were satisfied with their physical library's services, but were less likely to borrow a book if it is on course reserve. Discussion and Conclusions: When providing library services to undergraduate medical students, it is important to note that their opinions and needs can evolve quickly and be unpredictable. Librarians should consider maintaining a print collection while transitioning to electronic, in keeping with the trends of academic health librarianship.


One in five US households cans fruits or vegetables in a home kitchen. If your household is one of them, you may want to know the full cost of the activity or how much money you are saving by doing it yourself. This 10-page fact sheet written by Kevin R. Athearn, Amarat Simonne, and Soohyoun Ahn and published by the UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics Department presents a template designed to assist you in estimating the cost and potential returns from canning food at home. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/fe1034


Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterised by multiple benign tumours of the nervous system. More than 90% of the patients develop bilateral vestibular schwannomas, which are the hallmark of NF2 and lead to progressive hearing loss in adult patients. Spinal tumours are as frequent as bilateral vestibular schwannomas, whereas approximately 1/3 of them cause neurological symptoms. Cranial nonvestibular schwannomas, meningiomas and ependymomas are also frequent in NF2, as well as ophthalmological lesions and peripheral polyneuropathy. With a birth incidence of around 1 in 25 000, the genetic cause for NF2 is the heterozygous inactivation of the NF2 tumour suppressor gene on 22q. More than half (50–80%) of NF2 patients are founders who bear de novo mutations which are present in a mosaic fashion in at least 25–30% of the patients. NF2 is a complex syndrome and demands interdisciplinal care, experienced specialists, social and psychological support and rehabilitation measures.

Key Concepts:

NF2 is a tumour suppressor gene syndrome and is characterised by multiple benign cerebral and spinal tumours.

Bilateral vestibular schwannomas are the hallmark of NF2.

The genetic cause for NF2 is the heterozygotic inactivating mutation of the NF2 gene on 22q.

Mosaicism is frequent among de novo NF2 patients (25–30%).

NF2 is a complex syndrome and demands interdisciplinal care, experienced specialists, coordinated social and psychological supports and rehabilitation measures.

Keywords:

NF2;
schwannoma;
meningioma;
hearing loss;
LOH


This book reviews major research outcomes produced and published by the author's research group over the last 12 years on topics related to fats and oils at the macro-, micro- and nanoscales from the scientific and technological perspective. Today, the food industry expects fats and oils to perform in many different applications, and consumers want them to deliver various functions and healthy benefits. At the macroscale level, the continuous search for new oilseed crops with more advantageous oil compositions may lead to the development of excellent candidates that can eventually reach commercial acceptance. More than 10 different types of oilseeds have been rigorously studied for their physicochemical properties and their potential for use in food and non-food applications. In addition, constant formulation development related to fats and oils serves important functions in food and beverage products, from texture and product stability to flavour. At the microscale level, the extraction of valuable lipid bioactive compounds, the mitigation of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) esters in refined palm oil and the thermal analysis of fats and oils products using the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique are the primary focuses of my research team. The extraction of phospholipids from palm-pressed fibre provides an opportunity to recover valuable lipid compounds from by-products of the palm milling industry. The quality of refined palm oil plays a pivotal role in meeting consumer demands for high-quality finished food products. Investigation of the formation of 3-MCPD esters and modification of the refining processes used in the production of refined palm oil are two tasks that are key to maintaining the status of palm oil as the major vegetable oil on the world market. In addition, a few DSC methods have been developed to enable researchers to measure changes inthe thermal properties and quality of various fat and oil products. At the nanoscale, the range below 100 nm is important because at this small size, the laws of physics and chemistry for a bulk system change, resulting in novel properties that enable researchers to produce new materials with the exact characteristics they desire. The food industry has traditionally dealt with macro- or microscale lipid substances, but the introduction of the nanoscale may spur a paradigm shift within the field. The study of both fundamental and applied aspects of functional lipid nanodispersions has received increasing attention in recent years. Dispersion or high-energy emulsification methods are frequently used for the formation of functional lipid nanodispersions. Studies on the optimisation of the formulation and processing parameters have been the primary focus of my research team. The application of functional lipid nanodispersions as formulations for active delivery and targeting in various food systems is also an active and interesting area of study. The research findings presented in this book are a compilation of publications from many Masters and PhD dissertations supervised by the author. The major findings presented in this book are not expected to be comprehensive, rather, this book is intended to appraise the reader of the wide variety of opportunities and challenges involved in the effort to understand the physicochemical properties and functionalities of fats and oils and subsequently improve the application of fats and oils in food products.


This paper examines the forecasting performance of a broad monetary aggregate (M3) in predicting euro area inflation. Excess liquidity is measured as the difference between the actual money stock and its fundamental value, the latter determined by a money demand function. The out-of sample forecasting performance is compared to widely used alternatives, such as the term structure of interest rates. The results indicate that the evolution of M3 is still in line with money demand even in the period of the financial and economic crisis. Monetary indicators are useful to predict inflation at the longer horizons, especially if the forecasting equations are based on measures of excess liquidity. Due to the stable link between money and inflation, central banks should implement exit strategies from the current policy path, as soon as the financial conditions are expected to return to normality.


In this paper, we semi-automatically classify clean and debris-covered ice for 145 glaciers within Hohe Tauern National Park in the Austrian Alps for the years 1985, 2003, and 2013. We also map the end-summer transient snowline (TSL), which approximates the annual Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA). By comparing our results with the Austrian Glacier Inventories from 1969 and 1998, we calculate a mean reduction in glacier area of 33% between 1969 and 2013. The total ice area reduced at a mean rate of 1.4 km2 per year. This TSL rose by 92 m between 1985 and 2013 to an altitude of 3005 m. Despite some limitations, such as some seasonal snow being present at higher elevations, as well as uncertainties related to the range of years that the LiDAR DEM was collected, our results show that the glaciers within Hohe Tauern National Park conform to the heavy shrinkage experienced in other areas of the European Alps. Moreover, we believe that Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) is a promising methodology for future glacier mapping.


OBJECT
There is little evidence addressing whether procedures requiring adjunctive devices lead to an increased frequency of thromboembolic complications. The authors report their experience with 155 aneurysms treated with and without adjunctive devices.

METHODS
The authors retrospectively reviewed their last 155 aneurysm coil placement procedures. The patients' records were reviewed for the following phenomena: 1) evidence of procedure-related thrombus formation; 2) clinical evidence of stroke; and 3) the presence of acute ischemia in the treated vascular territory on diffusion-weighted (DW) imaging.

RESULTS
Of the 155 aneurysms treated in 132 patients, 66 were treated with coils only, 45 had stent-assisted coil placement, 33 underwent balloon remodeling, and in 11 stents were placed after balloon remodeling. Small DW imaging abnormalities were present in the treated vascular territory in 24% of cases (37 lesions). Specifically, 21 (32%) of 66 lesions in the coil-treated group, 6 (13%) of 45 in the stent-assisted coil treatment group, 8 (24%) of 33 in the balloon remodeling group, and 2 (18%) of 11 in the balloon and stent group showed DW imaging positivity. Furthermore, 25 (68%) of the 37 cases that were positive on DW imaging occurred in patients presenting with subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Clinically evident stroke or transient ischemic attack was present in 10 (27%) of 37 cases, with 70% occurring in patients presenting with SAH.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of adjunctive devices in treating aneurysms does not appear to increase the frequency of embolic or ischemic events. The presence of DW imaging abnormalities and clinically evident stroke was actually less frequent when adjunctive devices were used and in electively treated cases. This was probably related to perioperative antiplatelet medical management.


Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and Bifidobacterium are the most common types of microbes used as probiotics. They are present in the human gastrointestinal tract and have a significant influence on our health and well-being. Microbiota plays an important role in host metabolism and provides a natural defense mechanism against invading pathogens. This experiment was focusing on establish a method to detect the gastrointestinal tract microbiota, either by fecal or colonic tissue DNA extraction. The experiment comparing 2 types of DNA extraction; ZR Fecal kit and DNAzol direct. DNAzol direct was easy to use but was not suitable for long term DNA storage, hence the sample need to be extract fresh when needed. The extracted DNA, when amplified with G.Lacto genus specific primer show 99% match with sequence of Lactobacillus reuteri in database. For primer sensitivity test, G.Bifid1 genus specific primer could detect DNA up to a dilution of 10-10, or approximately 10 ag of DNA. For species specific primers, BIA could detect DNA up to a dilution of 10-8, or 1 fg of DNA. Both BiLon and BiBre primer could detect DNA up to a dilution of 10-7, or 10 fg of DNA. The PCR product of G.Bifid1 primer amplified against ATCC bacteria DNA:-resulted in 99% match with all 3 bacteria sequences (B. breve, B. Adolescentis, and B. Longum). When using BiBre and BIA primers amplified against B. breve and B. infantis ATCC DNA, the sequences were 100% similar to each species in bacteria database. For BiLon primer, the results yield 96% match. The difference in age of the mice could play an important role in the presence of bacteria detected in fecal samples, due to unequally delayed development of the young mice's intestinal ecosystems. The presence of bacteria in feces might not represent the type or quantity of bacteria that inhabitant the colon. One challenge that needs to be overcome in recovery of DNA is finding the lysis method that could penetrate peptidoglycan, the heavily cross-linked structure in gram-positive bacteria cell wall. Also find the method to verify the development of the pathophysiological changes, that are claimed to be responsible for the variation in bacterial levels in the GI tracts of the mice, would make the results more accurate. Further large-scale research in animals and humans, especially randomized controlled trials, is warranted.


We demonstrate a novel distributed fiber Raman amplified bus topology used for WDM transmission over 35 km of single-mode fiber by use of a multiwavelength Raman pump laser and eight Fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs). This topology reduces the number of addressing wavelengths needed at the head of the bus. Furthermore, by relocating the FBGs' wavelengths of a first section, it is obtained power transparency at the end of the overall bus, without requiring any additional pump source. We show how the topology allows the received powers from the first section sensors to be equalized and partially amplify the overall network. We investigate how the performance depends on the launched pump power. Results obtained with this new configuration are compared with those achieved in a previously reported optically amplified bus topology.


Both dense and porous construction materials are widely used in civil and industrial construction. For example, lightweight concrete, cellular concrete, foam concrete and other types of lightweight concrete are used almost as widely as conventional concrete. However, for the production of walls made of ceramic materials, bricks with dense structure and hollow bricks still are the most popular building materials. Lower expenses related to the production of building materials having necessary properties will lead to decreased production costs allowing to increase the production capacity due to the economy of raw materials, other materials and fuel. According to the calculations, today, when the thermal resistance for wall structures has increased 2.5-3 times, having an average density of wall material 900-1100 kg/m3 it is no longer possible to meet the requirements for the thermal resistance of the outer walls 460-520 mm  in the climatic conditions of the Baltic region. It is necessary either to increase wall thickness or to use more efficient insulation materials which both are not cost-efficient solutions. One of the possible solutions for the given problem is reduction of the average density for the wall material. Economic efficiency due to the reduction of average density for the wall material is the following: production capacity of the material decreases, fuel consumption in the production process of blocks or bricks decreases, energy consumption on bricklaying for 1 m2 of the outer wall decreases; less manual work, depending on the wall thickness, heat resistance in walls of the building increases. One of the most ecological and efficient methods is foaming of ceramic slip mass; therefore this technology has been chosen for the given research focusing on the production method of porous ceramics by using foaming of ceramic slip mass. Porous ceramics with volume mass ranging from 341 – 799 kg/m3, porosity 25-85 % and compressive strength 0.5 – 1.1 MP was obtained. The following physico-mechanical properties of the specimens were tested: compressive strength, bulk density and water absorption. In the framework of this research porous ceramic material with improved properties has been obtained and production technology of the material has been developed. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.sace.14.1.15929


This report presents the results of a pilot study on the seismic behavior and response of steel bridges with integral abutments. Analytical investigations were conducted on computational models of steel bridges with integral abutments to determine their seismic behavior as a system and to develop seismic design guidelines. The effect of the superstructure flexibility due to inadequate embedment length was investigated using 3D finite element models. This flexibility, modeled as translational and rotational springs, proved to have significant effect on the overall bridge dynamic characteristics in terms of periods and critical mode shapes. Lateral and longitudinal load paths and the seismic response were investigated using modal pushover and nonlinear time history analyses. A limited investigation on the effect of skew was conducted on a single-span integral abutment bridge. A procedure for incorporating the system level damping due to the yielding and inelastic responses of various components was proposed for use in the seismic analysis. Based on the analytical investigations and available experimental research, guidelines for the seismic analysis and design of integral abutment bridges were developed.


Melatonin demonstrates neuroprotective properties in adult models of cerebral ischemia, acting as a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. We investigated the effect of melatonin in a 7-d-old rat model of ischemia-reperfusion, leading to both cortical infarct and injury in the underlying white matter observed using MRI and immunohistochemistry. Melatonin was given i.p. as either a single dose before ischemia or a double-dose regimen, combining one before ischemia and one 24 h after reperfusion. At 48 h after injury, neither a significant reduction in cortical infarct volume nor a variation in the number of TUNEL- and nitrotyrosine-positive cells within the ipsilateral lesion was observed in melatonin-treated animals compared with controls. However, a decrease in the density of tomato lectin-positive cells after melatonin treatment was found in the white matter underlying cortical lesion. Furthermore, we showed a marked increase in the myelin basic protein-immunoreactivity in the cingulum and in the density of mature oligodendrocytes (APC-immunoreactive) in both the ipsilateral cingulum and external capsule. These results suggest that melatonin is not able to reduce cortical infarct volume in a neonatal stroke model but strongly reduces inflammation and promotes subsequent myelination in the white matter.