A combination of pectinases and cellulases are able to selectively alter the albedo
and segment membrane structure of citrus fruits and, hence, aid the removal of the
peel, adhering albedo layer and also the segment membrane. This study was camed
out to determine the optimum conditions needed to peel local mandarins using
pectinases (PeelzymB IV, Novozyme, Switzerland) and cellulases
(CelluclastB 1 SL, Novozyme, Switzerland). The experiment variables were enzyme
concentration, vacuum pressure and vacuum infusion time. In the first part of the
experiment, the local mandarins were first scored fiom stem end to the blossom end
followed by immersion in 1000 ml of enzyme solution at a set vacuum pressure and
ambient temperature (27 f 1 OC). Only one parameter was varied in any one
experiment. The latter part of the experiment was carried out using Response Surface
Methodology (RSM) to determine the optimum combinations of enzyme
concentration, vacuum pressure and vacuum infusion time to aid enzymatic segment
membrane removal. Echip software was employed in the experimental design,
calculate equations and statistical analysis. PeelzymB IV at 0.4 % vlw, 650 mm Hg
vacuum and 16 minutes of vacuum time were found to be optimal for peel removal.The enzyme-peeled h i t s were judged by the panellists using three different sensory
tests to ascertain its appeal to consumers. A significant (P< 0.05) difference between
enzyme-peeled and hand-peeled segments was found, with the panelists preferring
the enzyme-peeled segments. Celluclast@ 1.5L at 4.52 % vlw, vacuum pressure at
370 mm Hg for 9 minutes was found to be optimal. After segment membrane
removal, the membraneless local mandarin segments were then placed in different
concentrations of sugar solutions to gauge consumer acceptance. Different sugar
concentrations were used to emulate commercially available canned mandarin
segments. Although varying concentrations of sugar solutions were used, the colour,
odour, firmness, presence of adhering segment membrane and segment integrity
were not affected as there was no significant (P<0.05) difference among the samples.
It was also observed that local mandarins stored in 15 %rix was the preferred sugar
concentration. As an overview, enzyme-peeled segments were found to be much
more appealing as it had a much more intense orange colour, was firm with no loss
of segment integrity, hence, was very well accepted by the panelists. Thus, enzyme
aided peeling has a great potential as an alternative method to replace conventional
methods of peeling.


General Session: Conference on Managing Hazardous Air Pollutants: Keynote Address (S. Peck). National Trends in Air Toxics Policy (M. Shapiro). The California Experience in Toxic Air Pollutant Control (J.S. Lagarias, C.B. Suer, P.D. Venturini, and D.J. Ames). Implications of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments for the Utility Industry (L.B. Zeugin). Control of Hazardous Air Pollutants in OECD Countries: Comparative Policy Analysis (P. Wiederkehr). The Impact of Recent Legislation on the U.K. Generation Industry (H.E. Evans and W.S. Kyte). Air Toxics: The Research Challenge of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (F.T. Princiotta and D.G. McKinney). Emissions Sources: An Overview of CARB-Adopted Source Test Methods for Toxic Compounds and Results of Testing Natural Gas-Fired Utility Boilers (D.F. Todd and W.V. Loscutoff). Trace Element of Commercial Coals (E.L. Obermiller, V.B. Conrad, and J. Lengyel). Assessment of Air Pollutants from Coal Utilization Plant (P. Sage and R.J. Gemmill). Low Level Emission of Hazardous Organic Pollutants from Coal-Fired Power Plants-Fact or Artifact? (K.E. Curtis, N. Krishnamurthy, and S.J. Thorndyke). Comprehensive Assessment of Toxic Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants (T.D. Brown, C.E. Schmidt, and A. Radziwon). Determination of the Level of Hazardous Air Pollutants and Other Trace Constituents in the Syngas from the Shell Coal Gasification Process (D.C. Baker, W.V. Bush, and K.R. Loos). Air Toxics Monitoring Issues (R.M. Mann, A.G. Eklund, C.M. Thompson, W. Chow, and B. Nott). Mercury Speciation in Flue Gases: Overcoming the Analytical Difficulties (N.S. Bloom). Atmospheric Chemistry, Measurements, and Models: Ambient Air Monitoring for Mercury around an Industrial Complex (R.R. Turner and M.A. Bogle). Sources and Chemistry of Chlorides in the Troposphere: A Review (P. Saxena, P.K. Mueller, and L.M. Hildemann). Ambient Air Toxics Data from California's Toxic Air Contaminant Monitoring Program (W.V. Loscutoff and M.W. Poore). Comparison of Chemical Composition of Fly Ash Particles Collected in the Plume and Stack of a Coal-Fired Power Plant (G. Sverdrup, J.C. Chuang, L. Slivon, A.R. McFarland, J.A. Cooper, R.W. Garber, and B.S. Smith). Health and Environmental Information and Models: An A Priori Screening Methodology to Identify Air Toxics of Potential Ecological Concern: A Methodology for Quantitative Risk Assessment (G.E. Taylor, Jr.). Complex Ecological Assessment Influence of Pulp Mills and Power Plants Emissions on the Environment (A.M. Beim, E.I. Grosheva, and B.K. Pavlov). Neurotoxic Risks of Methylmercury (B. Weiss). Evidence for the Carcinogenicity of Nickel (L.S. Goldstein). Carcinogenic Risks of Arsenic in Fly Ash (R.E. Wyzga and J.E. Yager). Toxic Constituents of Coal Fly Ash (J.B. Hicks). Models for Risk Assessment, Management, and Design: Partitioning of Organic Pollutants in the Environment (Y. Cohen). Effects of Deposition Velocities on Predicted Health Risks (R.G. Vranka and G.E. Watkin). Improvements to the EPA's Human Exposure Model (W. Peters). Summary of Case Studies Using EPRI's Air Toxics Risk Analysis Framework: Results and Research Needs (L. Levin, K.K. Connor, D. Room, and L. Gratt). Characterization Uncertainty in the Risk Assessment Process (M. Alberts and F.O. Weyman). A Probabilistic Emissions Model for Managing Hazardous Air Pollutants (E.S. Rubin and M.B. Berkenpas). Multimedia Health Risk Assessment for Power Plant Air Toxic Emissions (E. Constantinou and C. Seigneur). Control Strategies and Applicable Technologies: The Behavior of Trace Elements during Coal Combustion and Gasification: An Overview (L.B. Clarke). Controlling Trace Species in the Utility Industry (F.B. Meserole and W. Chow). Control of Air Toxic Material by Novel Plasma Chemical Process-PPCP and SPCP (S. Masuda). Suppression of PCDD/PCDF Formation in MSW Incinerator Flue Gas at Temperatures b elow 800 F by Ammonia Injection (L. Takacs, W. Gleason, A. McQueen, and G.L. Moilanen). Enhanced Fine Particulate Control for Reduced Air-Toxic Emissions (D.L. Laudal, S.J. Miller, and R. Chang). Retention of Condensed/Solid Phase Trace Elements in an Electrostatic Precipitator (P.R. Tumati and M.S. DeVito). Poster Session: The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990: Hazardous Air Pollutant Requirements and the DOE Clean Coal Technology Program (P.D. Moskowitz, M. DePhillips, V.M. Fthenakis, and A. Hemenway). In-Plume Measurement of Fugitive and Point Source Emissions Using Airborne Instrumentation (K.C. Lionarons). An Integrated Approach for Ambient Air Toxics Impact Analysis at Industrial Complexes (R. Wells, T. Palma, and S. Osborne). Removal of Pyrite from Coal b efore Combustion (J.D. Bignell). The PISCES Database: Structure and Uses (R.G. Wetherold, D.A. Orr, K.J. Williams, and W. Chow). Coal Cleaning: A Trace Element Control Option (D.J. Akers). Rain Scavenging of Toxic Air Pollutants: The Rain Scavenging Ratio and Research Needs (W. Tsai and Y. Cohen). Determining Emissions and Assessing Risks: A Case Study of Large Industrial Facilities (W.R. Oliver, M.T. Alberts, and R.J. Dickson). Clean Power from Coal: The British Coal Topping Cycle (M.St.J. Arnold, A.J. Minchener, and S.G. Dawes). Pilot-Scale Evaluation of Sorbent Injection to Remove SO3 and HC1, (J.R. Peterson, G.. Maller, A. Burnette, and R.G. Rhudy). Multipathway Risk Assessment at a Maryland Utility (K.L. Zankel, R.P. Brower, J. Gerritsen, and S.A. Campbell). Conference Synthesis: Summary of the Conference on Managing Hazardous Air Pollutants (M. Miller). Index.


We consider the problem of reconstructing patterns from a feature map. Learning algorithms using kernels to operate in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) express their solutions in terms of input points mapped into the RKHS. We introduce a technique based on kernel principal component analysis and regression to reconstruct corresponding patterns in the input space (aka pre-images) and review its performance in several applications requiring the construction of pre-images. The introduced technique avoids difficult and/or unstable numerical optimization, is easy to implement and, unlike previous methods, permits the computation of pre-images in discrete input spaces.


Ants are remarkable in the way they form large, highly organized and structured colonies, consisting of up to several million individuals. This is achieved despite the small brains of individual ants and their limited information about the complex states of the colony and its environment, as well as the lack of a central guiding instance. Still, the ant colony is able to act as a whole and collectively finds solutions to the problems that it is challenged with, allowing the survival and propagation of the colony. This remarkable behavior of ant colonies is achieved by means of self-organization, which has become an important research field in biology with ants serving as model organisms. As result, researchers have successfully explained aspects of self-organization in ants by developing models of their collective behavior (Camazine et al. 2001b; Holldobler and Wilson 2009).
In this context, the results of the research group led by Jean Louis Deneubourg from Belgium are most important. Based on the finding that ants respond to trail pheromones in a probabilistic manner, they developed models to explain some fundamental properties of the social behavior of ant colonies. For instance, they explaied how ants are able to collectively find the shorter of two different paths between nest and food (shortest path experiments) or how ant colonies are able to select the higher quality food source if food sources of different quality are available (Beckers et al. 1992; Beckers et al. 1993). We refer to this class of models as the Deneubourg model and to its underlying mathematical function as the Deneubourg choice function (DCF). The DCF has been used by other models that explain different aspects of collective ant behavior, i.e. how they coordinate the division of labor between the members of the colony (Bonabeau et al. 1996), the influence of noise (Dussutour et al. 2009a), the path efficiency in artificial networks (Vittori et al. 2006), the symmetry breaking in foraging behavior (Lanan et al. 2012), the role of multiple pheromones (Dussutour et al. 2009b) and foraging in dynamic environments (Bandeira de Melo and Araujo 2011; Ramsch et al. 2012).
Although the Deneubourg model can explain important aspects of the social behavior of ant colonies, it bears some shortcomings:
• Computer simulations could not fully reproduce the experimental results of the shortest path experiments, despite the fact that the parameters of the DCF were freely adjusted to get an optimal fit to the experiments.
• Realistic parameter values for the DCF were never deduced experimentally.
• To our knowledge, the parameters of the DCF lack biological interpretation.
• The model does not include a theory of perception describing the relation between pheromone perception and ant behavior.
The aim of this dissertation was to overcome these shortcomings by measuring the exact dose-response relationship between pheromone concentration and ant response, deduce all relevant parameter values for the DCF, find a new model based on a theory of perception, test and compare both models and apply the new model to important biological aspects of ant colony behavior.
The results presented in this dissertation may be summarized as follows:
• The Deneubourg model in its original conception does not explain the experimental results if we use realistic parameter values that were deduced from experiment.
• As the missing theory of perception, psychophysical theory proved to be appropriate to describe the dose-response relationship between pheromone concentration and ant response. Most importantly it could be shown that Weber's law, a fundamental law in sensory physiology, is fulfilled. Important biological parameters like behavioral thresholds and error rates could be defined consistently and experimentally deduced.
• By incorporating psychophysical theory into the model, the modified Deneubourg model was able to qualitatively and quantitatively explain the shortest path experiments.
• Memory and motivation significantly altered the ants' behavior and their response to trail pheromones, resulting in the change of characteristic psychophysical parameters. For instance, the response threshold was shifted and the error rate in trail following changed in a way that we predicted.
We therefore suggest to refine one of the leading theories of collective ant behavior, the Deneubourg model, by integrating psychophysical theory into the model. Thus we may gain a more exact explanation of the experimental results, a clearer definition of important biological parameters and altogether a deeper insight into the collective behavior of ants.


Personalized medicine uses genomic information for selecting therapy in patients with metastatic cancer. An issue is the optimal tissue source (primary tumor or metastasis) for testing. We compared the DNA copy number and mutational profiles of primary breast cancers and paired metastases from 23 patients using whole-genome array-comparative genomic hybridization and next-generation sequencing of 365 "cancer-associated" genes. Primary tumors and metastases harbored copy number alterations (CNAs) and mutations common in breast cancer and showed concordant profiles. The global concordance regarding CNAs was shown by clustering and correlation matrix, which showed that each metastasis correlated more strongly with its paired tumor than with other samples. Genes with recurrent amplifications in breast cancer showed 100% (ERBB2, FGFR1), 96% (CCND1), and 88% (MYC) concordance for the amplified/non-amplified status. Among all samples, 499 mutations were identified, including 39 recurrent (AKT1, ERBB2, PIK3CA, TP53) and 460 non-recurrent variants. The tumors/metastases concordance of variants was 75%, higher for recurrent (92%) than for non-recurrent (73%) variants. Further mutational discordance came from very different variant allele frequencies for some variants. We showed that the chosen targeted therapy in two clinical trials of personalized medicine would be concordant in all but one patient (96%) when based on the molecular profiling of tumor and paired metastasis. Our results suggest that the genotyping of primary tumor may be acceptable to guide systemic treatment if the metastatic sample is not obtainable. However, given the rare but potentially relevant divergences for some actionable driver genes, the profiling of metastatic sample is recommended.


Queen Alexandra used clothes to fashion images of herself as a wife, a mother and a royal: a woman who both led Britain alongside her husband Edward VII and lived her life through fashion. 'Inside the Royal Wardrobe' overturns the popular portrait of a vapid and neglected queen, examining the surviving garments of Alexandra, Princess of Wales – who later became Queen Consort – to unlock a rich tapestry of royal dress and society in the second half of the 19th century.

More than 130 extraordinary garments from Alexandra's wardrobe survive, from sumptuous court dress and politicised fancy dress to mourning attire and elegant coronation gowns, and can be found in various collections around the world, from London, Oslo and Denmark to New York, Toronto and Tokyo. Curator and fashion scholar Kate Strasdin places these garments at the heart of this in-depth study, examining their relationships to issues such as body politics, power, celebrity, social identity and performance, and interpreting Alexandra's world from the objects out.

Adopting an object-based methodology, the book features a range of original sources from letters, travel journals and newspaper editorials, to wardrobe accounts, memoirs, tailors' ledgers and business records.


During an academic talk in Seoul at the Bank of Korea, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard discussed optimal monetary policy when credit markets are incomplete. He examined optimal policy both in ordinary times and in times when the zero lower bound on short-term nominal interest rates is encountered. The presentation was based on a paper in progress with Aarti Singh of the University of Sydney. Bullard also discussed the decline in U.S. labor force participation in recent years and said that the results of the paper may help to inform the debate on whether U.S. monetary policy needs to worry about such a decline.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the location of the femoral nerve within the iliopsoas muscle and determine the feasibility and potential complications of an ultrasound-guided block.

STUDY DESIGN
Prospective experimental trial.

ANIMALS
Sixteen adult dogs, median weight 14.3 (range 3-37) kg.

METHODS
Phase I. Computed tomographic images of the iliopsoas muscle and femoral nerve were analyzed in two dogs. Phase II. The location of the femoral nerve within the iliopsoas muscle was determined via ultrasonography in 11 healthy anaesthetized dogs. Phase III. Peripheral nerve stimulation and ultrasound were combined to perform femoral nerve blocks in three dogs.

RESULTS
Using computed tomography, the femoral nerve and its L4-L5 roots were identified within the iliopsoas muscle. The nerve itself was traced until it branched off into the quadriceps femoris muscle. Using ultrasonography, it was possible to observe the femoral nerve in nine dogs (82%). Starting at the dorsal third of the iliopsoas muscle, its path was traced in a caudo-ventro-lateral direction, emerging from the iliopsoas muscle shortly before passing through the muscular lacuna where it became very difficult to identify. An ultrasound-guided femoral nerve approach was carried out successfully in all three dogs.

CONCLUSIONS
It is possible to approach the femoral nerve using combined ultrasound guidance and peripheral nerve stimulation to a closer proximal point than previously described.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE
The ultrasound-guided approach of the femoral nerve within the iliopsoas muscle has the potential to become an additional approach.


Background: The belief that no organism can survive in the acidic environment of the stomach was shuttered by Barry Marshall and Robbin Warren in 1982 when they identified the organism Helicobacter pylori. H. pylori is the main cause of gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastric adenocarcinoma and mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. The aim of treatment of H. pylori infection in any clinical situation is eradication of bacterium from the foregut with armamentarium of antibiotic to choice. Aim: to study whether sequential therapy is more effective than standard triple therapy in terms of eradication of Helicobacter pylori. Material and methods: Our hospital based, prospective, randomized study entitled "Sequential therapy versus standard triple therapy in Helicobacter pylori eradication" was conducted and concluded in post graduate department of Medicine, tertiary care institute in 2012. Three hundred patients with documented H. pylori infection studied, were randomized into 3 groups to receive standard or sequential (clarithromycin or levofloxacin based) anti H. pylori therapy. Results: Three hundred patients studied were randomized into 3 groups, one group received standard triple therapy for 10 days (Group A), second group clarithromycin based sequential therapy for 10 days (Group B) and third levofloxacin based sequential therapy for 10 days (Group C). Group A achieved eradication rate of 68% only. While sequential therapy group B and C showed a success of 81 and 86% respectively. In our study, Group B sequential therapy achieved 13% higher eradication as compared to standard triple therapy. Conclusion: In conclusion, our large, prospective, hospital based study shows the superiority of sequential treatment for eradicating H. pylori infection compared with conventional triple therapy. The sequential regimen is less expensive and is more effective than conventional therapy for patients with clarithromycin-resistant organisms. Our data suggest that sequential therapy may have a role as a first line treatment for H. pylori infection.


Xylella fastidiosa is an important phytopathogenic bacterium that causes many serious plant diseases, including Pierce's disease of grapevines. Disease manifestation by X. fastidiosa is associated with the expression of several factors, including the type IV pili that are required for twitching motility. We provide evidence that an operon, named Pil-Chp, with genes homologous to those found in chemotaxis systems, regulates twitching motility. Transposon insertion into the pilL gene of the operon resulted in loss of twitching motility (pilL is homologous to cheA genes encoding kinases). The X. fastidiosa mutant maintained the type IV pili, indicating that the disrupted pilL or downstream operon genes are involved in pili function, and not biogenesis. The mutated X. fastidiosa produced less biofilm than wild-type cells, indicating that the operon contributes to biofilm formation. Finally, in planta the mutant produced delayed and less severe disease, indicating that the Pil-Chp operon contributes to the virulence of X. fastidiosa, presumably through its role in twitching motility.


Regional climate models are used by a large number of groups, for more or less all regions of the world. Regional climate models are complementary to global climate models. A typical use of regional climate models is to add further detail to global climate analyses or simulations, or to study climate processes in more detail than global models allow. The relationship between global and regional climate models is much akin to that of global and regional weather forecasting models. Over the past 20 years, the development of regional climate models has led to increased resolution, longer model runs, and steps towards regional climate system models. During recent years, community efforts have started to emerge in earnest, which can be expected to further advance the state‐of‐the‐art in regional climate modeling. Applications of regional climate models span both the past and possible future climates, facilitating climate impact studies, information and support to climate policy, and adaptation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.


Future scenarios provide challenging, plausible and relevant stories about how the future could unfold. Urban Futures (UF) research has identified a substantial set (>450) of seemingly disparate scenarios published over the period 1997–2011 and within this research, a sub-set of >160 scenarios has been identified (and categorized) based on their narratives according to the structure first proposed by the Global Scenario Group (GSG) in 1997; three world types (Business as Usual, Barbarization, and Great Transitions) and six scenarios, two for each world type (Policy Reform—PR, Market Forces—MF, Breakdown—B, Fortress World—FW, Eco-Communalism—EC and New Sustainability Paradigm—NSP). It is suggested that four of these scenario archetypes (MF, PR, NSP and FW) are sufficiently distinct to facilitate active stakeholder engagement in futures thinking. Moreover they are accompanied by a well-established, internally consistent set of narratives that provide a deeper understanding of the key fundamental drivers (e.g., STEEP—Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental and Political) that could bring about realistic world changes through a push or a pull effect. This is testament to the original concept of the GSG scenarios and their development and refinement over a 16 year period.


The Exploitation Plan supports consortium partners in defining how the RAGE Ecosystem will operate once our H2020 project ends. This version 2 of 3 builds on top of the overall design described in version 1 (Deliverable D9.5), and it is mainly devoted to: i. Describing how the different elements of the initial Business Model will be implemented, how the activities of the Ecosystem will be supported and the kind of resources and actions needed to launch and operate it within the space of the Applied Gaming industry. ii. Providing additional definitions, proposals and insights to guide discussions with the Gaming industry (in the wider sense) stakeholders and market players, aimed at refining and validating the best possible structure, the most effective operations of the Ecosystem and the critical success factors for its actual launching.


In the post-Cold War era, we have lost the clarity that once characterized our vision of international conflict. Foreign affairs are no longer defined solely by the ideological battles fought between capitalism and communism or by the competition between two great nuclear superpowers. That oversimplified view has been replaced by an increasing awareness of the moral and political complexity surrounding international relations. To help us deal with this new reality, Thomas Pangle and Peter Ahrensdorf provide a critical introduction to the most important conceptions of international justice, spanning 2,500 years of intellectual history from Thucydides and Plato to Morgenthau and Waltz. Their study shows how older traditions of political philosophy remain relevant to current debates in international relations, and how political thinkers through the centuries can help us deepen our understanding of today's stalemate between realism and idealism. Pangle and Ahrensdorf guide the reader through a sequence of theoretical frameworks for understanding the moral basis of international relations: the cosmopolitan vision of the classical philosophers, the "just war" teachings of medieval theologians, the revolutionary realism of Machiavelli, the Enlightenment idealism of Kant, and the neo-realism of twentieth-century theorists. They clarify the core of each philosopher's conceptions of international relations, examine the appeal of each position, and bring these alternatives into mutually illuminating juxtaposition. The authors clearly show that appreciating the fundamental questions pursued by these philosophers can help us avoid dogmatism, abstraction, or oversimplification when considering the moral character of international relations. "Justice Among Nations" restores the study of the great works of political theory to its natural place within the discipline of international relations as it retrieves the question of international justice as a major theme of political philosophy. It provides our moral compass with new points of orientation and invites serious readers to grapple with some of the most perplexing issues of our time.


For more than 30 years, sedation using benzodiazepines, combined or not with opioids, has been used as a standard regimen for gastrointestinal endoscopy; it is usually referred to as traditional sedation. Sedation management in gastrointestinal endoscopy varies between European countries according to the different legal frameworks and different healthcare systems. In the majority of European countries, endoscopists administer sedation with support from endoscopy nurses, while in some countries such as France only anesthesiologists administer intravenous sedation. In some countries any sedation can be administered by all trained clinicians, while in other countries administration of propofol can only be performed by anesthesiologists. Therefore, because of national legal restrictions, non-anesthesiologist administration of propofol (NAAP) has been established in only a few European countries, including Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Switzerland [1–9]. Irrespective of the type of sedation used, quality management requires pharmacologically appropriate training for all clinical staff involved in sedation practice. Individual qualifications, human resources and technical requirements have already been addressed in different guidelines [5, 10–17]. The German courses based on the national sedation curriculum combine sedation and emergency management, irrespective of the agent used for sedation (e.g., propofol, benzodiazepine, or combined medications) [18]. The nationwide implementation of these courses has significantly improved quality with regard to structure in German gastrointestinal endoscopy departments [19]. In Denmark, a training program for procedural sedation and analgesia (PSA) has been implemented in the capital region in cooperation with anesthesiologists [20]; sedation quality was found to be high following the implementation phase of NAAP in an endoscopy suite [21]. Therefore common training practice standards for all methods of sedation used in endoscopy have been shown to be beneficial in improving clinical practice as well as structural quality. European and national societies have already developed evidence-based and consensus-based guidelines for sedation and monitoring in gastrointestinal endoscopy that give a comprehensive outline of structural requirements, medication options, patient monitoring and discharge, and the role of endoscopy staff [10–16]. Anesthesiology and gastroenterology societies have both demanded special training for staff administering sedation of any type [13,17], and especially for NAAP [10,14–16]. The joint endorsement of the present Curriculum by medical and nursing endoscopy societies emphasizes that a multidisciplinary approach is the best response to current needs [13,15,16]. In the United States of America, a multisociety sedation curriculum for gastrointestinal endoscopy has recently been introduced [22]. The Curriculum presented here is based on the consensus of physicians (gastroenterologists, anesthesiologists) and nurses who have previously been involved in the development of European and national sedation guidelines for endoscopy sedation, national curricula for endoscopy sedation, and the organization of national and local courses for endoscopy sedation.


One of the methods of removing, storing, recovering or transferring carbon dioxide (as one of the greenhouse gases) is the use of hydrate formation. In this study, the effect of the presence of zinc oxide nanoparticles and steel trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) surfactant on the amount of mol consumed and carbon dioxide storage capacity between carbon dioxide hydrate and water at different temperatures, pressures and concentrations of the solution was investigated. For this purpose, a laboratory system was developed to perform hydrate formation experiments. Experiments were performed in the pressure range of 20 to 30 bar, temperature range from 275 to 279 degrees Kelvin. Experimental results (for mole consumption and storage capacity) showed that with increasing pressure at constant temperature for pure water, the amount of mole consumed increased and storage capacity increased by 15%. With decreasing temperature at constant pressure (20 bar), the amount of mol consumed increased by 17% and the storage capacity by 19%. Addition of zinc oxide by 0.05 wt% at constant temperature and pressure increased the amount of mol consumed by 14% and storage capacity by 13%. And 0.1% by weight of zinc oxide increases the amount of mol consumed and storage capacity by 26% and 22%, respectively


Seafloor mapping of the Mauritania margin by multibeam bathymetry as well as shallow and high-resolution seismics in combination with core
data has revealed a wide variety of seafloor features, which are primarily generated by turbidity currents and landslides. The largest observed features
in the study area are two submarine slides, which both have affected over 30,000 km2 of seafloor. The Cap Blanc Slide is not considered to be a
significant geohazard at the present day as it has a minimum age of 165 ka and shows no evidence of recent reactivation. In contrast, the complex
Mauritania Slide Complex is characterized by a retrogressive failure style and has an age of only 10.5-10.9 cal. ka B.P.We found no indication for
recent reactivation of this slide, but more data are needed to assess the present seafloor stability in this area. Turbidity current activity on the margin
is evidenced by numerous gullies, canyons and channels. The largest of these is the >450 km-long meandering Cap Timiris Canyon.During the present
Holocene sea-level highstand, however, terrigenous sediment supply to the modern outer shelf has been restricted and most of the conduits are
therefore thought to be largely inactive, at least in terms of large sand-rich flows.


Aflatoxin contamination of maize in Africa poses a major threat to food security and the health of many African people. In Kenya, aflatoxin contamination of maize is high due to the environmental, agricultural and socio-economic factors. Many studies have been conducted to understand the scope of the problem especially at pre-harvest level, but few of them have been concentrated to the post-harvest level. This research was carried out to gather scientific information on the fungi population, genetic diversity and aflatoxin levels during post-harvest period. The study was conducted in three geographical locations of; Kitui, Trans-Nzoia and Nakuru Counties. Samples were collected from storage structures of farmers and transported to the Biosciences eastern and central Africa (BecA), International Livestock and Research Institute (ILRI) hub laboratories. Mycoflora were recovered using the direct plating method. A total of five fungal genera (Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Rhizopus and Bsyochlamys spp.) were isolated from the stored maize samples. The most common fungal species that were isolated from the three study sites included A. flavus at 82.03 % followed by A. niger and F. solani at 49 % and 26 % respectively. The aflatoxin producing fungi A. flavus was recovered in 82.03 % of the samples. Aflatoxin levels were analysed on both the maize samples and in vitro. Most of the A. flavus isolates recorded a high level of aflatoxin when they were analysed for presence of aflatoxin B1 using ELISA. In Kitui, all the samples had aflatoxin levels above 10 ppb with a total aflatoxin mean of 219.2 ppb. In Trans-Nzoia, only 3 samples (n=39) had their aflatoxin levels less than 10 ppb while in Nakuru, the total aflatoxin mean level of this region was 239.7 ppb. When individual samples were analysed using Vicam fluorometer method, aflatoxin analysis revealed that most of the samples (58.4 %) had been contaminated. The means were significantly different (p≤0.05) in all the three locations. Genetic relationships of A. flavus isolates were determined using 13 Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) markers. The results were used to generate a phylogenetic tree using DARwin5 software program. A total of 5 distinct clusters were revealed among the genotypes. The isolates appeared to cluster separately according to the geographical locations. Principal Coordinates Analysis (PCoA) of the genetic distances among the 91 A. flavus isolates explained over 50.3 % of the total variation when two coordinates were used to cluster the isolates. Analysis of Molecular Variance (AMOVA) showed high variation of 87 % within populations and 13 % among populations. This research has shown that A. flavus is the main fungal species infecting maize grains in the three sampled sites in Kenya. The effects of aflatoxins on human populations in Kenya demonstrates a clear need for tools to manage contamination of locally produced maize. Food basket surveys for aflatoxin contamination should be conducted on a regular basis. This would assist in obtaining reliable data on aflatoxin incidence in different food crops. This would go a long way in defining the most appropriate and long-lasting control strategies for this menace that would suffice to the entire Kenyan population.


The growing recognition that many passive margins have experienced periods of post-rift uplift has raised new questions about the nature of the tectonic processes that drive such uplift. The eastern North America margin is of particular interest because it is a classic Atlantic-style margin that has long been suspected of tectonic rejuvenation, yet the timing of post-rift uplift events remains elusive. To address this question we present apatite U-Th/He and fission track ages from a 1300 m vertical transect in the White Mountains of New Hampshire (USA), including a 910-m-deep bore hole. Thermal modeling suggests a period of accelerated denudation from ca. 85 to 65 Ma. This timing is broadly similar to the timing of accelerated exhumation and compression on passive margins elsewhere in the Atlantic, raising the question of whether a common mechanism, such as a change in lateral stresses, changes in mantle convection, or climate change, could be responsible.


OBJECTIVE
To describe the association between hormonally related risk factors and the progression to new sites of radiographically defined full body (generalized) osteoarthritis (OA) in a cohort of older women.

METHODS
A retrospective cohort design was used to study former radium dial painters over the age of 40 years who had minimal radium exposure. At study entry and at varying followup times, clinical examinations were conducted and full body radiographs were taken. Two followup groups were defined: women with a followup radiograph 1-9 years after baseline (n = 75) and 10-19 years after baseline (n = 53). Fifty-five joints (10 joint groups) were independently graded at baseline and followup for OA by the method of Kellgren and Lawrence, and provided the basis for summary full body OA progression scores. Progression was defined as an increase in the number of sites with OA and in separate analyses as an increase in the number of joint groups with OA.

RESULTS
Increasing length of followup and lower baseline OA score were associated with greater OA progression, while age at baseline examination showed no clear relation to progression. Beyond these variables, increasing height and having ever smoked were inversely associated with OA progression, while body mass index (BMI) showed a weak positive association. In multivariable modeling for followup 1-9 years, only lower baseline OA score predicted greater OA progression to new sites (partial r2 = 0.13, p = 0.0009). In followup 10-19 years, baseline OA score (partial r2 = 0.12, p = 0.0011), height (partial r2 = 0.057, p = 0.033), and smoking status (partial r2 = 0.09, p = 0.035) were independent predictors of OA progression to new sites, while greater BMI was a positive, weak, and nonsignificant predictor (partial r2 = 0.031, p = 0.29). History of prior cholecystectomy, hysterectomy, dilation and curetage, number of pregnancies, and change in BMI were not significantly related to progression of OA to new sites. Similar results were found for predictors of OA progression to new joint groups.

CONCLUSION
Lower baseline level of OA is associated with greater OA progression to new sites or joint groups independent of age, suggesting a "burnout" phenomenon. In addition, shorter height and having never smoked appear to be independent risk factors that predict the progression of radiographic OA to new sites or joint groups.


A simple thermodynamic analysis suggests that oil can spontaneously displace water from coal's surface if the coal particle has a water contact angle greater than 90°. However, the clean coal products obtained from laboratory-scale dewatering-by-displacement (DbD) test work assayed moistures substantially higher than expected. These high moisture contents were attributed to the formation of water-in-oil emulsions stabilized by coal particles. Four different approaches were taken to overcome this problem and obtain low-moisture agglomeration products. These included separating the water droplets by screening, breaking emulsions with ultrasonic energy, breaking agglomerates with ultrasonic energy, and breaking agglomerates using vibrating mesh plates. On the basis of the laboratory test work, a semi-continuous test circuit was built and tested using an ultrasonic vibrator to break the water-in-oil emulsions. The most promising results were obtained agglomerates were broken using the ultrasonic probe and the vibrating mesh plates. Tests conducted on flotation feed from the Kingston coal preparation plant gave a clean coal product containing 1% by weigh of moisture with a 94% combustible recovery. The separation efficiency of 93% is substantially higher than results achievable using froth flotation. When agglomerates formed from thermal coal from the Bailey coal preparation plant were broken using either ultrasonic energy or vibrating mesh plates, the obtained results were very similar: clean coal products assayed less than 5% moisture with separation efficiencies of 86% in average.


Texas has 9 major aquifers and 21 minor aquifers underlying the state. These aquifers are a vital water supply source in Texas, providing approximately 60% of the 16.1 million acre-feet of water used in the state annually. These underground waters also sustain surface water flow in rivers across Texas; thus, they are integral to the health of watersheds throughout the state and the economies that depend on this water. However, approximately one-third of Texas is not regulated by a groundwater conservation district. During a time of unparalleled pressure on groundwater resources across the state, the lack of groundwater protection in some areas of Texas is undermining important areas of law and policy—from property rights and natural resource protection, to groundwater management and regional water planning. The presence of a groundwater conservation district, however, does not guarantee effective management of groundwater resources or protection of private property rights, springflow, and surface water flow. Groundwater policy in Texas permits aquifers to be mined and fails to protect the property rights of landowners who wish to conserve their groundwater. In addition, a fragmented regulatory structure and insufficient funding for groundwater conservation districts impede effective management of groundwater resources. To bring effective groundwater management to areas of the state where groundwater conservation districts do not exist, therefore, Texas must resolve fundamental challenges in the way groundwater is managed in areas where it is regulated.
Citation: Puig-Williams V. 2016. Regulating unregulated groundwater in Texas: how the state could conquer this final frontier. Texas Water Journal. 7(1):85-96. Available from: https://doi.org/10.21423/twj.v7i1.7039.


This book describes OCLC's contributions to the transformation of the Internet from a web of documents to a Web of Data. The new Web is a growing ""cloud"" of interconnected resources that identify the things people want to know about when they approach the Internet with an information need. The linked data architecture has achieved critical mass just as it has become clear that library standards for resource description are nearing obsolescence. Working for the world's largest library cooperative, OCLC researchers have been active participants in the development of next-generation standards for library resource description. By engaging with an international community of library and Web standards experts, they have published some of the most widely used RDF datasets representing library collections and librarianship. This book focuses on the conceptual and technical challenges involved in publishing linked data derived from traditional library metadata. This transformation is a high priority because most searches for information start not in the library, nor even in a Web-accessible library catalog, but elsewhere on the Internet. Modeling data in a form that the broader Web understands will project the value of libraries into the Digital Information Age. The exposition is aimed at librarians, archivists, computer scientists, and other professionals interested in modeling bibliographic descriptions as linked data. It aims to achieve a balanced treatment of theory, technical detail, and practical application.


This article outlines the main issues surrounding the process of import, translation and cultural adaptation of American comics in Italy from 1908 to 1942. During this time, the first comics were translated from Europe and the United States, leading to a revolution in Italian children's literature. These were also the years in which comics began to be perceived as a political, as well as pedagogical problem, which prompted the Fascist regime to issue censorship measures aimed at limiting their circulation. The aesthetic and ideological dimension of comics will be investigated alongside the different strategies of translation and adaptation used by Italian editors and cartoonists. The reasons behind the disapproval of comics by Italian pedagogues, and the ambivalent attitude of the Fascist regime, will also be explored. In conclusion, my analysis aims to offer insights into the cultural function of children's literature during Fascism and the specific role of comics as a site for innovation.


We present the selection algorithm and anticipated results for the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS). TDSS is an Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) subproject that will provide initial identification spectra of approximately 220,000 luminosity-variable objects (variable stars and active galactic nuclei across 7500 deg2 selected from a combination of SDSS and multi-epoch Pan-STARRS1 photometry. TDSS will be the largest spectroscopic survey to explicitly target variable objects, avoiding pre-selection on the basis of colors or detailed modeling of specific variability characteristics. Kernel Density Estimate analysis of our target population performed on SDSS Stripe 82 data suggests our target sample will be 95% pure (meaning 95% of objects we select have genuine luminosity variability of a few magnitudes or more). Our final spectroscopic sample will contain roughly 135,000 quasars and 85,000 stellar variables, approximately 4000 of which will be RR Lyrae stars which may be used as outer Milky Way probes. The variability-selected quasar population has a smoother redshift distribution than a color-selected sample, and variability measurements similar to those we develop here may be used to make more uniform quasar samples in large surveys. The stellar variable targets are distributed fairly uniformly across color space, indicating that TDSS will obtain spectra for a wide variety of stellar variables including pulsating variables, stars with significant chromospheric activity, cataclysmic variables, and eclipsing binaries. TDSS will serve as a pathfinder mission to identify and characterize the multitude of variable objects that will be detected photometrically in even larger variability surveys such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.


This research aimed to provide insight into the use and possible value of purpose built multimedia computer software for the study of English Literature. The software in question was developed in light of many years practical experience of teaching English Literature to secondary school students preparing for external examinations and was designed with the aim of improving their knowledge and understanding of particular works of literature.

Informed by a critique of the main research findings about ICT use in learning and teaching since the period when computers were introduced into mainstream schools from the 1980s, the empirical research investigated two of the most prominent theoretical and practical perspectives that have been applied to understanding the relationship between educational resources and learning: Learning Styles Theory and Cognitive Load Theory. These two approaches and their associated instrumentation were applied in a quasi-experimental controlled empirical study in four schools in the north-east of England where the multimedia software was used with groups of students embarking on a study of Shakespeare's Macbeth for GCSE examination.

Learning Styles theory and the instrumentation used (Kolb's LSI and Honey & Mumford's LSQ) proved less successful than Cognitive Load Theory in demonstrating reliability and validity and therefore in explaining the relationship between different instructional resources and individual learning.

The theoretical integrity and usefulness of these two approaches is discussed and, in particular, the rationale behind the continued use of Learning Styles was explored via interview with school faculty who gave reasons of face validity; the pressure from external inspection; the mechanisms through which they were held professionally accountable; senior management and institutional policy; the legacy of initial teacher training; and established classroom practice.

Students using the multimedia software demonstrated improvements in their knowledge and understanding of Macbeth equivalent on average to one GCSE grade above those not using the multimedia resource and Cognitive Load Theory was found to be successful in explaining this and in predicting the relationship between instructional resource and the learning gains of individuals.

Limitations of the study are drawn along with conclusions for further research and for enhancing teaching and learning with multimedia resources.


Effective agronomic management at the field level requires an understanding of the spatial distribution of soil because edaphological processes are a function of interrelationships among the physical and chemical properties. In precision agriculture, these interrelationships need to be considered to create soil management classes. In order to identify management classes, the age-old questions associated with soil classification are problematic: what properties need to be included and at what intensity; what repeatable methods can be employed and how many classes are present? To answer the first question with regards to farm-scale studies requires the collection of high-density soil data, which is often cost prohibitive. Therefore, ancillary information such as proximal sensing electromagnetic induction (EM) and remotely sensed data, with digital numbers (DN) in Red, Green, and Blue, are increasingly being used. To answer the second and third questions requires an exhaustive investigation of a quantitative method that is amenable to optimal selection of the number of classes in a data set. In this paper, we propose using ancillary data as a surrogate for soil properties to identify soil management classes by invoking the fuzzy k-means (FKM) algorithm. Using the fuzziness performance index (FPI) and normalized classification entropy (NCE), we identify k = 4 classes and a fuzziness exponent (φ) = 1.4 for further investigation. The classes form sensible soil management zones across a strongly sodic irrigated field. Fuzzy canonical analysis show the EM38 and EM31 contribute most to the discrimination of Vertosols and Dermosols based on texture and mineralogy, whilst Red and Green DN contribute to the discrimination of Vertosols based on larger organic matter content. Using ANOVA we conclude that the implementation of the FKM algorithm to classify proximal and remotely sensed ancillary data, produced soil management classes relevant to differential gypsum requirement (GR).


The present study documents the indigenous knowledge of medicinal plants used in the Alaknanda catchment of Uttarakhand state in India. Ethnomedicinal uses of 100 medicinal plant species along with botanical name, vernacular name, family, habit, part used and folk medicinal uses are presented. They belong to 91 genera and 51 families. These plants have been used to cure 60 types of different ailments out of the 58 plant species used to cure more than one disease. The most widely sought after plant parts in the preparation of remedies are the underground parts such as root, tuber, bulb, rhizome etc. Most of the remedies were reported to have been from herbal species. Approximately 70% of the population was found dependent on herbal treatments and the remaining 30% of the population was dependent on an allopathic form of treatment. In this study it was found that maximum 69% veteran of female category in Berahi valley prefer to visit traditional Vaidyas (traditional herbal practitioners) for curing ailments. The study emphasizes the potentials of the ethnobotanical research and the need for the documentation of traditional knowledge pertaining to the medicinal plant utilization for the greater benefit of mankind.


The increasing popularity of local area networks (LANs) and the limitations of a single LAN (on its geographical coverage, information-carrying capacity, and number of stations) have triggered tremendous interest in the study and implementation of interconnected LANs. The authors address the problem of interconnecting the widely deployed CSMA/CD LANs (or LAN segments) via a transparent bridge. A transparent bridge is so called because it "learns" about the network structure and organization during its operation, i.e., it learns about the location of the network stations relative to the bridge in order to do the forwarding of frames selectively; also, the stations need not be aware of the presence of the bridge. The authors make two important contributions. First, they present an approximate analytical model of a transparent CSMA/CD bridge which can be either of the normal store-and-forward type or of the novel cut-through variety (introduced by Kwok and Mukherjee). Using the analytical model, which is also verified via simulation, the performance of the cut-through bridge is compared with (and found to be superior than) that of the normal bridge. Secondly they present the design of a cut-through bridge which can be easily implemented using off-the-shelf components. >


USE OF SPECT DIFFERENCE IMAGING TO ASSES S SUBCORTICAL BLOOD FLOW CHANGES DURING EPILEPTIC SEIZURES. Andrew D. Norden and Hal Blumenfeld. Departments of Neurology and Neurobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT. Seizures are thought to arise primarily from the cerebral cortex. However, the propagation and behavioral manifestations of seizures involve a network of both cortical and subcortical structures. The medial thalamus and upper brainstem reticular formation are crucial areas for the maintenance of normal consciousness. Bilateral involvement of these structures may be responsible for loss of consciousness during partial seizures. Therefore, we sought to investigate the role of the medial thalamus and brainstem in seizures. We performed SPECT ictal-interictal difference imaging co-registered with high-resolution MRI scans to localize regions of cerebral blood flow changes in patients undergoing inpatient monitoring for epilepsy. Ictal-interictal SPECT scans from 43 seizures in 40 patients were analyzed. The medial thalami showed SPECT difference imaging changes of >20% in 18 patients. Of patients with medial thalamic changes, the majority (13 of 18) had seizure onset in the temporal lobe, while only 1 had confirmed onset in extratemporal structures, and the remainder were non-localized. In contrast, in the 22 patients without >20% SPECT changes in the medial thalami, 6 had extratemporal onset, 6 had temporal onset, and the remainder were non-localized. In patients with temporal lobe seizures, the side of greater medial thalamic and brainstem reticular formation involvement was strongly related to SPECT injection timing such that there was a sequential pattern of ipsilateral followed by contralateral changes. Brainstem structures showed >20% SPECT changes in 27 of 43 seizures with no clear relation to temporal or extratemporal onset. We conclude that the medial thalamus is preferentially involved in seizures arising from the temporal lobes, possibly reflecting the strong connections between limbic temporal structures and the medial thalamus. Sequential involvement of ipsilateral followed by contralateral structures in the medial thalamus and upper brainstem may explain how seizures produce peri-ictal loss of consciousness despite incomplete involvement of the cerebral cortex. Acknowledgements I am deeply grateful to my mentor, Dr. Hal Blumenfeld, for his tremendous enthusiasm, encouragement, support, time, and friendship. I also thank the Office of Student Research for financial support.


The observed reduction of Arctic sea ice has drawn a lot of interest for its potential impact on midlatitude weather variability. One of the outstanding challenges is to achieve a deeper understanding of the dynamical processes involved in this mechanism. To progress in this area, we have designed and performed an experiment with an intermediate complexity atmospheric model. The experiment shows a transient atmospheric response to a surface diabatic heating in the Barents and Kara Seas leading to an anomalous circulation first locally, then over the polar region and finally over the Euro‐Atlantic sector. A hypothesis that explains the mechanisms for the propagation of the signal is put forward. The discussion of this hypothesis provides an insight into the nature of the link between sea‐ice forcing and the modes of internal variability of the atmosphere. We demonstrate that, after removal of sea ice in the Barents and Kara Seas, first the linear atmospheric response dominates and is confined in the proximity of the heating area, then a large‐scale response, associated also with eddy feedback, is found and finally anomalies reach the lower stratosphere and show a hemispheric pattern in the troposphere. These results identify the drivers of the tropospheric connection between sea‐ice variability and the North Atlantic Oscillation and highlight the role of the lower stratosphere.


Using a stochastic production frontier model and data for 2002 from a representative sample of Mexican rural households, in this paper we first study empirically whether or not small and medium farmers produce corn efficiently. The results show that corn production is inefficient, nation-wide and for both commercial and subsistence farmers. Our findings also show that this is even more so for subsistence producers and for the Center and the South-southeast regions of rural Mexico. In addition, we find that subsistence farmers use less prod uctive inputs (seeds and agrochemicals) with respect to commercial farmers. Based on these results, we then apply a regression model to inquire about the factors explaining inefficiency. We get that farmers facing natural disasters, that produce corn for subsistence using diverse seed varieties of the grain in plots with less than 1 hectare and indigenous, are more inefficient than other farmers. The results also indicate that households located in communities with marketing facilities and that have benefited from infrastructural investments, produce corn in a less inefficient manner. The detailed nature of the data used allows us to have results that differentiate rural regions as well as commercial and subsistence corn producers, and hence, to suggest focalized policies for rural development.


Abstract Background: According to the Intentional Relationship Model (IRM), the intentional use of relational approaches in therapy (therapeutic modes) is essential for obtaining successful relationships to clients. There have been no attempts to combine the IRM with self-efficacy theory, and instruments for measuring self-efficacy for therapeutic mode use are lacking. Aim: This study aimed to examine the component structure and internal consistency of the Norwegian version of the Self-Efficacy for Therapeutic Mode Use (N-SETMU). Methods: Occupational therapy students (n = 111) from two education programs completed the N-SETMU along with sociodemographic information. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was performed and component extraction was controlled using Parallel Analysis. Internal consistency was assessed with Cronbach's α and inter-item correlations. Results: All items on the N-SETMU loaded on the same latent dimension, tentatively called Self-Efficacy for Therapeutic Mode Use. Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.82. Conclusions: The N-SETMU is a unidimensional measure of self-efficacy for therapeutic mode use in general. The N-SETMU may be a useful tool for occupational therapy research and audits focusing on occupational therapists' use of therapeutic modes in client interactions.


INTRODUCTORY TEXT: The battle for control over Aleppo involved horrible suffering for civilians on both sides. To force armed groups holding Eastern Aleppo to surrender, pro-Government forces encircled eastern Aleppo city in late July 2016. Civilians were left without adequate food or medical supplies. In this report, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic documents the numerous violations of IHL and IHRL committed by the parties to the conflict during the battle for Aleppo between 21 July and 22 December 2016.


For Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 administrators preparing for Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) core exam 70-270, and core exams 70-297, and 70-298, this book is invaluable. Not only does it provide the resources you need to succeed on the exams, but to succeed in the real world as well. Think of this book as the notes you would have taken if you were to capture every essential nugget of information related to the skills measured in the core elective exams. To begin with, MCSE Core Elective Exams in a Nutshell allows you to see all of the topics expected for mastery in each of the exams. Each exam is covered in three parts: Exam Overview, Study Guide and Test Your Knowledge sections. This makes for easy reference and a great study aid. The Exams covered include: EXAM 70-270: Installing, Configuring, and Administering Microsoft Windows XP Professional EXAM 70-297: Designing a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and Network Infrastructure EXAM 70-298: Designing Security for a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Network Once you have completed the exams successfully, you will find the book to be a valuable reference to core Windows administration and security skills. This book uses the same successful format found in MCSE Core Required Exams in a Nutshell by William Stanek, and together they satisfy all of the Core exam requirements for your MCSE certification.


Rudolph Glossop made a unique contribution to the early development of both geotechnical engineering and engineering geology and this volume presents a fascinating and revealing perspective on his involvement by means of selected extracts from personal diaries, letters and journals. From his early experience as an undergraduate and the four years spent in the Gold Coast to the establishment of Soil Mechanics Ltd and his time as director of Mowlems, Glossop became one of the key figures and was involved in many of the key stages in the development of geotechnology. His journal provides a fuller understanding of the Mulberry Harbour, which was a key factor in the success of the D-Day landings in northern France, June 1944; while his diaries give a unique account of the significant challenges that had to be overcome during construction of Derwent Dam, N.E. England.

 The famous Skempton, in his obituary of Glossop, refers to "works of original scholarship, written with the clarity and style of which Glossop was a master … by his own example and by the example of others, he never lost sight of the importance of bringing together the practical and academic aspects of both geology and soil mechanics."

 Ron Williams has painstakingly pieced together a fascinating account of the life and career of an outstanding engineer, and in the process has painted a vivid portrait of Rudolph Glossop and his achievements. Not before time will today's engineers and scientists have the opportunity to appreciate the achievements of one of the key figures in geotechnical engineering.


The current environmental background is modifying human behaviour in every society. Indeed, one of the main causes of global warming is the emission of greenhouse gases, including mainly CO2. Several ways have been found to gradually reduce the CO2 emissions, among them the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) process. This is a technique which extends the use of fossil energies while giving necessary time for renewable energies to develop on a large scale. The CO2 is captured, brought to the storage site, and injected either into dried up oil and gas deposits or into unworkable coal seams or into deep saline aquifers. Long-term monitoring of the storage site is maintained afterward. The question pending, and a source of controversy, relates to the underground evolution of the CO2 in the medium- and long-term. The aim is to lead preliminary determination of risks on a generic basis. Projects are managed and storage installations built on a global scale. Depending on the country, the risk approach is not the same. Mostly, only the FEP method is used - accident scenarios are built up based on several events and cumulated processes. This study develops the MOSAR method (Organized and Systemic Method of Risk Analysis) to analyse the technical risks of a human plant and to identify the prevention means to neutralize them. The innovative side of this work is that we have created a typology grid of under-systems hazard sources adapted to a CO2 geological storage site. Risk scenarios can then be built and organized hierarchically in a grid by means of gravity based on probability. Once this is done, this study leads to the identification of prevention and protection means. Similar to most systemic methods for risk analysis, this MOSAR method is time consuming in order to define all risks and scenarios. However, the software tool facilitates this work and we show in this paper that the method is efficient.


This research has been carried out to study the UAE population structure, particularly as the UAE has an unusual population composition. Transient workers from Indian sub-continental outnumber the native Arabic population by approximately three (60%) to one (20%). Other Arab populations make up approximately 15% of the population, the majority are from Egypt, Yemen, Palestine and Sudan. The relatively high levels of consanguineous marriages (between close relatives such as first cousin) between UAE native population added more complexity to the population. Therefore, it was important to analysis the population before applying any new tools to forensic analysis and paternity testing in the UAE.

Two polymorphic systems were chosen (VNTRs and STRs) to investigate the population substructure. Five single loci VNTR/HinfI probes MS1, MS31, MS43A, YNH24 and G3 were used to profile 173 individuals from the UAE native Arabic population, 154 individuals from Indian and 112 individuals from Pakistani populations. The FST was calculated by comparing the UAE Arabic population to both Indian and Pakistani populations. The highest value of (0.0062) was observed between the UAE Arabic and Indian populations. No evidence of substructure was observed when Indian population compared to Pakistani population (FST = -0.003).

In addition, eight sample STR loci D5S818, D7S820, D13S317, D16S539, vWA, THO1, TPOX and CSF1PO (GenePrintTM PowerPlexTM 1.2 System) were used to profile 229 UAE native Arab (100 from Sharjah and 129 from Abu Dhabi), 194 Indian, 197 Pakistani and 121 Egyptian individuals.

The data were analysed to estimate a number of forensic and paternity parameters, including matching probability, discrimination power, probability of paternal exclusion and typical paternity index in order to assess the application of these two systems for forensic and paternity tests in the UAE.

The five VNTR loci and eight STR loci together were proved to be very powerful tool for forensic analysis and determining paternity within the UAE.


Trends in the development of world economic relations show the processes of globalization and integration which predetermine the need for Russia to shift to a new stage of social development - the global information space against macroeconomic jolts and the sanctions regime. Russian involvement in the system of word economic relations, whose important part is world trade, requires overcoming structural deformation and to upgrade the economy.The topic of the article is relevant due to the significant impact of external factors on the development of the economy and social sphere of Russia as an independent and important participant in world economic relations in the global space. Due to unique natural resources, production and labour potential the country in terms of globalization has prerequisites for the active participation in international division of labour. However, new economic conditions and low prices of energy sources create the need for eliminating the misbalance in the domestic economy, accumulating import substitution process and restructuring export-import operations.The article underlines the great significance and relevance of modern reliable information resources. They allow to receive the complex information picture of implemented globalization processes within separate countries and regions. Authors made the economic-statistical analysis of the dynamics and structure of Russian foreign economic activity within the system of world economic relations. They received benchmark assessment of structural-dynamic changes in export and import pattern on main groups of partner countries and considered alternative future export volume and structure of Russia till 2030.


There are different ways of looking at the achievements of outstanding personalities. In reading this book, the reader will be in touch with some of Jung's best insights into artistic and literary creation. The essays are on Paracelsus, Freud, Richard Wilhelm, Picasso, and Joyce's Ulysses. There are also two chapters on poetry and literature.


The realization that direct imaging of extrasolar planets could be technologically feasible within the next decade or so has inspired a great deal of recent research into high-contrast imaging. We have contributed several design ideas, all of which can be described as shaped pupil coronagraphs. We offer a complete and unified survey of one-dimensional shaped pupil designs, some of which have been published in our previous papers. We also introduce a promising new design, which we call bar-code masks. With these masks we can achieve the required contrast with a fairly large discovery zone and throughput, but most importantly they are perhaps the easiest to manufacture and might therefore stand up best to refined analyses.


Gasoline obtained from the fractionation of indigenous natural gas condensate has low octane number (78) and is therefore of limited uses. Lead-based octane boosting and catalytic reforming are not the viable methods for many fractionation plants. This study was therefore aimed to develop an inexpensive conceptual alternative method for boosting the octane number of gasoline. Natural gas concentrated in methane having high octane number (more than 100) was absorbed in the gasoline to boost the octane number partially (86). Selective additives i.e. ethanol, tert-butyl alcohol, methylcyclopentane, toluene, iso-octane and xylene were blended first with the gasoline to aid the absorption of natural gas molecules. The loss of absorbed gas molecules from gasoline with the increase in temperature was also observed. It is therefore required to try for avoiding any increase in temperature in the finished gasoline. The developed conceptual method is promising. The findings of this simulation study would be useful for more studies towards the development of an affordable alternative method for fractionation plants for boosting the octane number of gasoline derived from natural gas condensate.


"With poverty studies having shifted their focus from household poverty to individual poverty, a number of studies have started to examine intrahousehold resource allocation, especially gender bias within the household as potential causes of poverty. The literature has highlighted the existence of gender inequalities in South Asia, attributed to strong preferences for male offspring stemming from cultural and traditional customs. Only a few studies focused on the regional difference in the extent of gender bias and its response to income growth. To fill a void in previous studies, this study analyzes regional differences in gender discrimination, taking into account time-series variations. Furthermore, we test whether economic factors are responsible for gender bias in child mortality. There are two main objectives in this study. First, through a comprehensive literature review and a careful treatment of data compilation, regional features and recent trends in gender bias in children's health outcomes are updated. We find strong evidence of severe disparity in child health against girls in South Asia; in contrast, no such anti-female gender bias exists in Sub-Saharan Africa. Second, this paper empirically tests the relationship between gender biases in child mortality and income growth using carefully-compiled new country-level panel data, paying attention to the possibility that such relationship differs between regions and changes over time. To investigate the relationship, two types of data sets are used: (1) new cross-country panel data of childhood mortality rates by sex, collected from various sources of macro statistics, such as DHS stat and WHO statistics; and (2) our own estimates for age-specific child mortality rates of children, constructed from the retrospective information on birth and death histories included in micro data of each round of the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The empirical result suggests that income growth is correlated with the reduction of the anti-female bias in childhood mortality in most regions of the developing world—including South Asia. This result is reasonable, since income growth leads to an increase in nutrition intake (food consumption) and in health related inputs. In sharp contrast, the regression result does not show any significant correlation between gender biases in child health outcomes and income growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. While previous studies focused on the severe gender bias in South Asia, this study examined the correlation between income growth and gender bias and found a new dimension of regional contrast between Sub-Saharan Africa and other regions." from Authors' Abstract


In the future, personal care robots will work in close interaction with humans. This poses a great challenge to the manufacturers of such robots who have to ensure the safety of their systems. Up to now, only general safety standards for machines were available and the lack of a specialized safety standard with detailed requirements has resulted in uncertainty and a relatively high residual risk for manufacturers. This situation is changed with the publication of ISO 13482, a safety standard for personal care robots. This paper gives an overview about the contents of the new safety standard and the expected effects for service robot manufacturers and the way, personal care robots will be developed in the future. The scope of the standard and its application in the risk assessment process is described. Special focus lies on the aspect of intended close-interaction and contact between human and robot, and the possibility to validate that all safety requirements have been met.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the extent to which peer drug use and sibling drug use predict alcohol abuse/dependence disorder status and the use of drugs other than alcohol among school-based youth in Mexico.

METHODS
Data were collected on 1 203 middle and high school students in northern Mexico in May 1998. Participation was voluntary, and responses were confidential. Logistic regression analyses estimated the association that peer drug use and that sibling drug use had with alcohol abuse/dependence diagnosis and the lifetime use of drugs other than alcohol.

RESULTS
Students who had siblings or peers who used alcohol and other drugs were more likely to meet the standard alcohol abuse/dependence criteria defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), and were more likely to have used drugs other than alcohol. Controlling for potentially important confounders, we found that adolescents with the highest level of peer substance use were eight times as likely to meet alcohol abuse/dependence criteria and four times as likely to use other drugs. Youth who had siblings who used drugs were about twice as likely to meet alcohol abuse/dependence criteria and about 2.5 times as likely to use drugs other than alcohol when compared to youth with no sibling substance use.

CONCLUSIONS
Consistent with extant findings among youth in the United States of America, peer and sibling substance use are major risk factors for substance use among school-based youth in Mexico. Students in Mexico may benefit from prevention strategies found to be effective among students in the United States.


Abstract. The eastern side of the South Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation Basin-wide Array (SAMBA) along 34.5° S is used to assess the nonlinear, mesoscale dynamics of the Cape Basin. This array presently consists of current meter moorings and bottom mounted Current and Pressure recording Inverted Echo Sounders (CPIES) deployed across the continental slope. These data, available from September 2014 to December 2015, combined with satellite altimetry allow us to investigate the characteristics and the impact of mesoscale dynamics on local water mass distribution and cross-validate the different data sets. We demonstrate that the moorings are affected by the complex dynamics of the Cape Basin involving Agulhas rings, cyclonic eddies and anticyclonic eddies from the Agulhas Bank and the South Benguela upwelling front and filaments. Our analyses show that exchange of water masses happens through the advection of water by mesoscale eddies but also via wide water mass intrusions engendered by the existence of intense dipoles. These complex dynamics induce strong intra-seasonal upper-ocean velocity variations and water mass exchanges between the shelf and the open ocean but also across the subantarctic and subtropical waters. This work presents the first independent observations comparison between full-depth moorings and CPIES data sets within the eastern South Atlantic region that gives some evidence of eastern boundary buoyancy anomalies associated with migrating eddies. It also highlights the need to continuously sample the full water depth as inter-basin exchanges occur intermittently and affect the whole water column.


This study examines the competitiveness of four Canadian agricultural industries (eggs, milk, chicken and turkey) using a general equilibrium farm to retail pricing model developed by Wohlgenant (1989). The model generates retail and farm pricing equations that are estimated using maximum likelihood developed by Johansen (1992). The results indicate that in all cases, long-run constant returns is rejected, indicating market power within the Canadian retail to farm marketing sector. The model also finds more cointegrating vectors than predicted by theory, also inconsistent with competitive markets. Results are based on commercial disappearance as a proxy for consumer demand and therefore confounding between uncompetitive markets and quality differences may be indicated. Less ambiguous results would be obtained if consumer expenditures rather than commercial disappearance data were available. Still, results are rather emphatic in rejection of competitive markets in food markets in Canada. More competitive markets are indicated in the United States using similar methods.


In this paper we describe usage of FreeBSD operating system for IPv6 Multicast routing platform in SOI-Asia Project. SOI-Asia project is platform to deliver realtime lecture via UniDirectional Link of satellite to several countries in Asia. Because of limited bandwidth in satellite, we use IPv6 multicast to deliver material of lecture and realtime video and audio lecture. We also describe human resources development of operational aspect of the project in several countries in Asia.


A cholinomimetic substance was isolated from desiccated venom of Dendroaspis polylepis by one-dimensional ascending paper chromatography. The migratory and staining properties of the substance were compared with those of standard acetylcholine. Pharmacological and biochemical identification was carried out on various in vitro and in vivo biological test objects as well as with high-voltage paper electrophoresis. The assay of the cholinomimetic substance was done on both superfused guinea pig ileum and hamster stomach strips. The cholinomimetic substance content was 2.44 - 3.46mg/0.96gm of total protein in the desiccated venom.


The paper presents the development and experimental validation of a computational model for simulating galvanic corrosion in typical case scenarios appearing in an aircraft environment. The numerical approach is based on the three dimensional Boundary Element Method. Amongst the inputs of the problem are: geometrical description and physical properties of the electrolyte, as well as macroscopic polarisation curves of the active electrodes. The main outcomes of the model are corrosion rates, electric current density and potential distribution. The case study used for the validation consists of a co-planar pair of Aluminium AA2024 and carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) immersed in saline solution with variable coating conditions. In particular, the situation of a circular damage ("pinhole defect") of a coating of very high insulating properties on the anodic side of the sample is considered. A comparison between experimental measurements, including potential and total current flowing between anode and cathode, and the corresponding simulation results is presented for different variations of the modelling scenario. Very good agreement has been obtained between observed and simulated results for systematic variations of the case study which consider different locations of the damage in the sample, different surface area ratios between anodic and cathodic regions, and different electrolyte conductivities. The successful validation of the modelling approach has enabled its use for simulating galvanic corrosion in more complex structural components of an aircraft as illustrated in this paper.


This article explores the criminalisation and governance of sexting among young people. While the focus is on Australian jurisdictions, the article places debates and anxieties about sexting and young people in a broader analysis around concerns about new technologies, child sexual abuse, and the risks associated with childhood sexuality. The article argues that these broader social, cultural and moral anxieties have created an environment where rational debate and policy making around teen sexting has been rendered almost impossible. Not only has the voice of young people themselves been silenced in the public, political and media discourse about sexting, but any understanding about the differing behaviours and subsequent harms that constitute teen sexting has been lost. All the while, sexting has been rendered a pleasurable if somewhat risky pastime in an adult cultural context lending weight to the argument that teen sexting is often a subterranean expression of activities that are broadly accepted. The article concludes that the current approaches to regulating teen sexting, along with the emergence of sexting as a legitimate adult activity, may have had the perverse consequence of making teen sexting an even more attractive teenage risk taking activity.


In recent years, Micro-Electrical Mechanical Systems (MEMS) have opened new areas of the human body to non-pharmacological treatment. Miniaturized implants have started to appear in volume or power constrained areas, such as the eye and the heart. In particular, the eye benefits from miniaturization, as it is very sensitive to pressure and volumetric changes, which can affect eyesight and blood flow. Diabetic retinopathy is the worldwide leading cause of blindness among working age adults. As the numbers of diabetics increases, so does the number of retinopathies. By 2030, 191 million people are expected to be affected by the disease. As a patient's retinopathy progresses, the chronic hyperglycemia from diabetes causes permanent changes to the vasculature; vessels become leaky and occluded, tissue becomes hypoxic due to this ischemia and begins to release vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to promote angiogenesis. Currently, treatments exist only for severe non-proliferative or proliferative DR, and rely on blocking VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) or panretinal laser photocoagulation to reduce retinal metabolic demand. VEGF antagonists are expensive; costing up to $164k per quality life adjusted year and must be administered by intravitreal injections monthly. Laser photocoagulation also requires retreatment and is known to reduce peripheral vision—up to 20% of the peripheral retina is ablated. Another treatment approach may be to supply oxygen. Oxygen is a strong vasoconstrictor and suppresses the hypoxic signaling that leads to release of VEGF. These two effects reduce the plasma volume leaked into tissue, which in turn reduces edema, and may help prevent ischemic related cell death. Literature supports this assertion. A study of nasally inspired oxygen in patients with macular edema showed a reduction of edema and improvement of visual acuity following 3 months of treatment. Another study on rabbits with an induced ischemia demonstrated that intravitreal oxygenation maintained the retina to a near healthy condition. In this thesis, two devices, the oxytransporter and oxygenerator, that treat diabetic retinopathy are designed and tested. The former shuttles oxygen from areas of high concentration to the ischemic retina. The latter generates oxygen by electrolysis. This thesis is grounded on a computational model of oxygen consumption in the retina. To estimate the oxygen consumption, the model accounts for the anatomical distribution of tissue and vasculature in the retina. Previous models in literature averaged over the effects in the inner retina. The model estimates that the devices must supply 0.25nmol/s of oxygen to the human macula with an oxygen tension dependent on the degree of ischemia. A nanoporous filler material was developed and integrated into the oxytransporter to allow this device to operate in the high humidity environment of the eye. The material is capable of withstanding an environment with water vapor 1.4 times the bulk saturation pressure. Theory behind the material was tested and compared to simulation. Benchtop testing over a month demonstrated the stability of the device in conditions similar to the eye. This oxytransporter was implanted in rabbits and the diffusor, or output membrane, reached the favorable mark of 100mmHg in the vitreous humor from atmospheric oxygen alone. This is estimated to be sufficient to treat a mild to moderate ischemia in humans. The oxygenerator is powered from a coil up to 3cm away, and can provide 0.25nmol/s continuously with an oxygen tension of up to 300mmHg for a human sized diffusor. A steady state test demonstrated the capability of maintaining the oxygen tension in the device by modulating the input power. The device is replenished through osmosis from the vitreous humor, and can absorb moisture at a rate comparable to the required oxygen consumption. One week implantation in vivo in rabbits demonstrated that the oxygen tension exceeded 200mmHg at the diffusor, which is estimated to be sufficient to treat severe ischemia.
Future work should involve a study of the long term effects of oxygen in an ischemic animal model.


Magnetoresistance (MR) for n-type germanium wafers by in-line-four-terminal method at room temperature are explored. Conspicuously, the variation of the measured MR as a function of applied current and voltage-terminal separation is observed. With a further increase of applied current, the measured MR initially increases, passes through a peak value at a certain current and then finally decreases. The measured MR increases with an increase of the value of voltage-terminal separation. The most important outcome of this study is the observation of negative MR for the smallest voltage-terminal separation of 2 µm, and the sign change of the measured MR can be achieved by magnetic fields. These interesting results may lead to an alternative approach to future magneto-electronic devices.


Background: The intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) test can be used to evaluate hemispheric memory capacity before anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL). Most patients demonstrate better memory with injection ipsilateral to planned resection (expected asymmetry [EA]), but a substantial minority show better memory with contralateral injection (unexpected asymmetry [UA]). Both degree and direction of Wada memory asymmetry (WMA) have been associated with worse surgical outcome in small series. Reports also suggest that UA is associated with greater decline in verbal memory after left ATL (L-ATL). Methods: The relationship between WMA and surgical outcome (at 3 months, 1 year, and last follow-up) was examined in a large group of ATL patients (108 L, 119 R) with both EA and UA. Also, memory in a subgroup (96 L, 108 R) was examined, comparing subscores of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test obtained preoperatively, at 3 months, and at 1 year. Results: Thirty-six percent of L-ATL and 8% of R-ATL patients had UA. UA was associated with worse surgical outcome at 1 year for R-ATL patients but was not associated with worse outcome for L-ATL patients. There was no correlation between WMA and persistent postoperative verbal memory change for patients with L- or R-ATL. Conclusions: Unexpected asymmetry is uncommon in patients with right anterior temporal lobectomy (R-ATL) and may be a risk marker of poor surgical outcome. This relationship may be obscured by language confounds in patients with L-ATL. The results suggest that Wada asymmetry (using mixed stimuli) does not predict postoperative verbal memory; it is unclear whether this finding is generalizable to centers using only nonverbal stimuli.


A growing number of individuals now perform work in the sector known as the "sharing economy," and their participation raises important tax and regulatory questions. In this chapter, we survey some of the key tax issues confronting individuals operating in the sharing economy in the United States. Many of the tax implications that arise in sharing economy work stem from the threshold decision by many platforms to classify such individuals as independent contractors rather than employees. Therefore, we first discuss how the threshold classification decision affects the substantive and compliance-related tax issues faced by individuals operating in the sharing economy. We briefly summarize the doctrinal tax rules governing income taxation of sharing economy participants and discuss some of the compliance challenges experienced by these participants in fulfilling their tax obligations. The chapter then examines tax-related factors (such as lack of withholding) that may affect the labor-supply decisions of sharing economy participants. Finally, we discuss possible reforms that may help alleviate compliance challenges associated with work in this sector or may help these individuals make more informed decisions, and we explore the downsides of such reforms.


A study of spontaneous mutation in Arabidopsis thaliana was initiated from a single inbred Columbia founder; 120 lines were established and advanced 17 generations by single-seed descent. Here, we report an assay of reproductive traits in a random set of 40 lines from generations 8 and 17, grown together at the same time with plants representing generation 0. For three reproductive traits, mean number of seeds per fruit, number of fruits, and dry mass of the infructescence, the means did not differ significantly among generations. Nevertheless, by generation 17, significant divergence among lines was detected for each trait, indicating accumulation of mutations in some lines. Standardized measures of mutational variance accord with those obtained for other organisms. These findings suggest that the distribution of mutational effects for these traits is approximately symmetric, in contrast to the usual assumption that mutations have predominantly negative effects on traits directly related to fitness. Because distinct generations were grown contemporaneously, each line was represented by three sublines, and seeds were equal in age, these estimates are free of potentially substantial sources of bias. The finding of an approximately symmetric distribution of mutational effects invalidates the standard approach for inferring properties of spontaneous mutation and necessitates further development of more general approaches that avoid restrictions on the distribution of mutational effects.


Abstract. Trace gas exchange of N2O, NO/NO2 and CH4 between soil and the atmosphere was measured in a typical Mediterranean pine (Pinus pinaster) forest during two intensive field campaigns in spring and autumn 2003. Furthermore, gross and net turnover rates of N mineralization and nitrification as well as soil profiles of N2O and CH4 concentrations were determined. For both seasons a weak but significant N2O uptake from the atmosphere into the soil was observed. During the unusually dry and hot spring mean N2O uptake was −4.32 µg N m-2 h-1, whereas during the wet and mild autumn mean N2O uptake was −7.85 µg N m-2 h-1. The observed N2O uptake into the soil was linked to the very low availability of inorganic nitrogen at the study site. Organic layer gross N mineralization decreased from 5.06 mg N kg-1 SDW d-1 in springtime to 2.68 mg N kg-1 SDW d-1 in autumn. Mean NO emission rates were significantly higher in springtime (9.94 µg N m-2 h-1) than in autumn (1.43 µg N m-2 h-1). A significant positive correlation between NO emission rates and gross N mineralization as well as nitrification rates was found. The negative correlation between NO emissions and soil moisture was explained with a stimulation of aerobic NO uptake under N limiting conditions. Since NO2 deposition was continuously higher than NO emission rates the examined forest soil functioned as a net NOx sink. Observed mean net CH4 uptake rates were in spring significantly higher (−73.34 µg C m-2 h-1) than in autumn (−59.67 µg C m-2 h-1). Changes in CH4 uptake rates were strongly negatively correlated with changes in soil moisture. The N2O and CH4 concentrations in different soil depths revealed the organic layer and the upper 0.1 m of mineral soil as the most important soil horizons for N2O and CH4 consumption.