A.D. Roy's original formulation of the Safety-First Principle is used to derive models of the portfolio composition of the banking sector in Pakistan. To estimate the models we use data for 1964-2005 and for 2005-2008 for forecasting. Various models are estimated, wherein loads are segrated into their various classes, with and without restrictions implied by the theory, such as symmetry on asset characteristics and the equivalent of Engel conditions. The best specification of the system of asset demand equations is a dynamic version which allows for adjustment costs or adjustment constraints in the alignment of the portfolio. It is also demonstrated that a model that diaggregates the various types of bank loans dominates one wherein they are treated as perfect substitutes. The superior model provides information on the complements and the substitutes amongst the assets that conforms to economic intuition. That model also fits the data well.


Translation, as a concept, may be regarded as a prototype of a 'travelling concept' as it has travelled to numerous disciplines in recent years. Therefore, a 'translational turn' was proclaimed for the humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences (cf. Bachmann-Medick 2007 , 2009 ). Outside of translation studies, the use of the translation concept is not bound to "translation proper" ( Jakobson 1959 , 232) or to the way in which the concept is used and defined in translation studies. Consequently, 'translation' is usually used as a very broad metaphor in translation studies' neighbouring disciplines and fields of research. This mobility shows the potential and high polysemantic value of the translation concept. What we are missing, however, is a 'translaboration' between translation studies and the various other disciplines that employ translation studies' master concept. The paper will illustrate the background of the translational turn and the rise of the notion of 'cultural translation' as well as the deployment of the translation category in organisation studies and sociology. It will thus limit itself to examples from cultural studies and the social sciences. The paper's aim is to revise and dispel some of the misconceptions held against translation proper and the discipline of translation studies, thereby showing that translation studies has the conceptual and theoretical grounding to be the leading discipline for the unfolding of a translational turn outside its disciplinary borders. Furthermore, the paper will show the common ground for a translaboration from which both translation studies and its neighbouring disciplines could ultimately benefit.


Sabine Marschall's Landscape of memory: Commemorative monuments, memorials and public statuary in post-apartheid South Africa is preceded by Annie Coombes' much-acclaimed History after apartheid: Visual culture and public memory in a democratic South Africa, first published in 2003 by Duke University Text and a year later by Wits University Press. While History after apartheid has emerged as the keynote study of public visual culture in post-apartheid South Africa, there are in fact few public monuments - at least of a sculptural type - discussed in that book, and far greater emphasis is placed on new museums and the exhibitions they include.


In the last decades, the innovation process experienced a significant evolution. From the early atomist models, the economy is moving towards systemic approaches based on interactive processes, strongly attached to the territories. Innovation networks are proliferating as the most suited framework for destinations to achieve a high innovation performance. However, there has been little research on the structure and dynamics of tourism innovation networks and how they can foster regional innovation. This paper applies Social Network Analysis to measure and identify the dynamics of cooperation within institutional tourism innovation networks and the role they play on tourism innovation. The study was applied to two Portuguese regions, Douro and Aveiro, where the top managers of institutions responsible for developing or supporting tourism innovation were surveyed. Results demonstrate that different social structures and patterns of cooperation create distinct impacts on regional innovation. It is concluded that tourism destinations characterised by diversified networks, i.e. networks comprising actors from different geographical locations and with distinct typologies, are in a better position to achieve a higher innovation performance. The paper advances strategic recommendations for tourism organisations to increase destinations' competitiveness, by further developing the necessary conditions for innovation to occur.


All around the world, hundreds of individuals are constantly subjected to administrative detentions designed to prevent them from committing future atrocities. Generally, the main protection against arbitrary and unjustified administrative detentions is judicial review. Nonetheless, judicial review of administrative detention proceedings suffers from inherent difficulties and is typically based on ex parte proceedings and secret evidence. In spite of these difficulties and based on a few renowned cases, it is widely accepted in the scholarly debates that the Israeli judicial review model is robust and effective. Therefore, prominent international law scholars often recommend the adoption of this model in various other states, including the United States, and claim that it is best suited to fulfill international human rights law requirements. Nevertheless, as this study reveals, out of the 322 cases that were decided by the Israeli Supreme Court from 2000 to 2010, not even a single case resulted in a release order or in a rejection of the secret evidence.This research provides, for the first time, a systematic empirical analysis of these 322 cases. Since the judgments in this field are usually short and laconic, providing very little information on the process, the case law analysis is complemented with in-depth interviews with all of the relevant stakeholders: Israeli Supreme Court Justices, defense lawyers, state attorneys, intelligence officers, and Palestinian detainees. The research demonstrates a meaningful gap between the rhetoric of the few renowned cases and actual practice. In particular, it reveals the difficulties courts face in attempting to challenge secret evidence. Furthermore, the research discovers the formation of "bargaining in the shadow of the Court" dynamics and the adoption of alternative dispute resolution methods by the Court, such as mediation and negotiation.Put together, the inclusive case law analysis and in-depth interviews provide extensive information on the actual practice and inherent weaknesses of judicial review of administrative detention cases; they lift the veil of secrecy that currently overshadows this sensitive and important judicial process; and they cast doubt on arguments that Israel's detention model is one that should be emulated by other countries.


Nitrogen (N) is one of the main limiting nutrients for plant growth and crop yield. It is well documented that changes in nitrate availability, the main N source found in agricultural soils, influences a myriad of developmental programs and processes including the plant defense response. Indeed, many agronomical reports indicate that the plant N nutritional status influences their ability to respond effectively when challenged by different pathogens. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in N-modulation of plant susceptibility to pathogens are poorly characterized. In this work, we show that Solanum lycopersicum defense response to the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea is affected by plant N availability, with higher susceptibility in nitrate-limiting conditions. Global gene expression responses of tomato against B. cinerea under contrasting nitrate conditions reveals that plant primary metabolism is affected by the fungal infection regardless of N regimes. This result suggests that differential susceptibility to pathogen attack under contrasting N conditions is not only explained by a metabolic alteration. We used a systems biology approach to identify the transcriptional regulatory network implicated in plant response to the fungus infection under contrasting nitrate conditions. Interestingly, hub genes in this network are known key transcription factors involved in ethylene and jasmonic acid signaling. This result positions these hormones as key integrators of nitrate and defense against B. cinerea in tomato plants. Our results provide insights into potential crosstalk mechanisms between necrotrophic defense response and N status in plants.


Research related to quality and safety has been a staple of medical physics academic activities for a long time. From very early on, medical physicists have developed new radiation measurement equipment and analysis techniques, created ever increasingly accurate dose calculation models, and have vastly improved imaging, planning, and delivery techniques. These and other areas of interest have improved the quality and safety of radiotherapy for our patients. With the advent of TG-100, quality and safety is an area that will garner even more research interest in the future. As medical physicists pursue quality and safety research in greater numbers, it is worthwhile to consider what actually constitutes research on quality and safety. For example, should the development of algorithms for real-time EPID-based in-vivo dosimetry be defined as "quality and safety" research? How about the clinical implementation of such as system? Surely the application of failure modes and effects analysis to a clinical process would be considered quality and safety research, but is this type of research that should be included in the medical physics peer-reviewed literature? The answers to such questions are of critical importance to set researchers in a direction that will provide the greatest benefit to our field and the patients we serve.
The purpose of this symposium is to consider what constitutes research in the arena of quality and safety and differentiate it from other research directions. The key distinction here is developing the tool itself (e.g. algorithms for EPID dosimetry) vs. studying the impact of the tool with some quantitative metric. Only the latter would I call quality and safety research. Issues of 'basic' versus 'applied' quality and safety research will be covered as well as how the research results should be structured to provide increasing levels of support that a quality and safety intervention is effective and sustainable. Examples from existing peer-reviewed research will be used to highlight the main points. Historical, medical physicists have leveraged many areas of applied physics, engineering and biology to improve radiotherapy. Research on quality and safety is another area where physicists can have an impact. The key to further progress is to clearly define what constitutes quality and safety research for those interested in doing such research and the reviewers of that research.
Learning Objectives:
1.
List several tools of quality and safety with references to peer-reviewed literature.
2.
Describe effects of mental workload on performance.
3.
Outline research in quality and safety indicators and technique analysis.
4.
Understand what quality and safety research needs to be going forward.
5.
Understand the links between cooperative group trials and quality and safety research.


Home range size of terrestrial animals may be influenced by spatiotemporal dynamics of resources. However, little is known regarding the effects of spatiotemporal resource availability on semi-aquatic central place foragers such as the American beaver Castor canadensis. From January 2011 to April 2012, 26 beavers at 11 wetlands at Redstone Arsenal in north-central Alabama, USA, were captured and radio-tracked using radio telemetry. The objectives of this study were to test the predictions of three hypotheses: (1) the resource dispersion hypothesis: more spatially dispersed resources throughout a landscape increase home range sizes; (2) the temporal resource variability hypothesis: more temporally variable resources result in decreases in home range sizes; (3) the habitat productivity hypothesis: increases in habitat productivity lead to decreases in home range sizes. Twenty-three of 26 radio-tagged beavers had well-bounded home ranges, and their home range sizes were positively related to the diversity of land cover within home ranges as predicted by the resource dispersion hypothesis. Furthermore, home range sizes of 26 beavers, including three seasonally dispersing beavers, decreased with increasing seasonal variability of within-home-range normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), supporting the prediction of the resource heterogeneity hypothesis. Home range sizes of American beavers increased with increasing total NDVI and proportions of woody plant cover within home ranges probably to avoid overexploitation of woody plants. Our results suggest that the combination of resource quantity, spatial distribution and seasonal variation of resources influences movements and home ranges of central place foragers.


The role deixis plays in structuring language and its relation to the context of utterance provides the focus for an examination of information packaging in Russian discourse. The analysis is based on a model which interprets discourse as constituted by four interrelated frameworks — the linguistic text, the text setting, the text content, and the participant framework. Deixis is divided into three primary dimensions of time, space, and person, which are metaphorically extended to secondary dimensions of information status (knowledge, focus, and theme). The linguistic devices which function in these dimensions encode information status by serving one or more communicative functions, including the presentative, directive, identifying, informing, acknowledging, and expressive functions. Discourse markers and deictics provide links between the content of the message, the linguistic text itself, and the context in which the message is produced. They introduce new participants, signal changes in thematic structure, bracket topical units, and mark the relative status of information. The book is written with both descriptive and theoretical goals. It aims to synthesize and revise current approaches to deixis and information packaging to account for the Russian data. The analysis extends beyond primary deixis to include knowledge structures and sources of knowledge, as well as the metalinguistic devices which signal changes in information flow, and grounding and saliency relations.


When the constellation Libra pops its head up above the eastern horizon it also brings the importance of balance to the fore. Balance has relevance to many things, not only to us as people, but also, and especially, to astronomy. Is our inclination not frequently to seek out only the bright deep-sky objects whether with a telescope, binoculars or the naked eye, while so many of the fainter objects are pushed aside? And this is where, when a balance is maintained, we can be surprised by the results. Libra is located just north of the better known constellation Scorpius. The stars currently making up the constellation were first characterised by Eratosthenes as the pinchers or claws of the Scorpius shape.


OF DISSERATION PARENTS' EXPRESSED EDUCATIONAL DISSENT IN MIDDLE SCHOOL EDUCATION SYSTEMS Hoy and Miskel (2008) and Weick (1976) conceptualize schools as organizational systems of which parents comprise part of the organization. Specifically, parent involvement includes such behaviors as assisting students with homework, participating in policy decisions, and providing feedback (Barge & Loges, 2003). Parent involvement is largely championed in K12 education and particularly in middle schools (e.g., Coalition of Essential Schools, 1993; Texas Education Agency, 1991). In fact, both parents and teachers value building positive parent-teacher relationships (Kalin & Steh, 2010) and may communicate regarding a variety of topics including student academic performance, classroom behavior, preparation, hostile peer interactions, and health (Thompson & Mazer, 2012). However, while parents and teachers report valuing positive parent-teacher interactions, Lasky (2000) found that "teachers and parents sometimes felt confused, powerless, and misunderstood as a result of their interactions" (p. 857). One specific type of parent-teacher communication that may lead to dissatisfying interactions is parent expressed educational dissent (PED). Similar to organizations and workplaces that do not value dissent as a feedback process increasing democratic discourse in the system, schools may actively attempt to avoid potentially negative or conflict-inducing communication such as dissent (Ehman, 1995). Scholars (e.g., Davies, 1987; Fine, 1993; Sarason, 1995) note the importance of dissent and parent involvement in education systems, and case studies espouse positive changes within education systems as a result of parental dissent (e.g., Ehman, 1997). In order to better understand PED, this dissertation project seeks to (a) examine why parents express dissent in educational systems, (b) identify how parents express dissent in educational systems, and (c) measure how PED affects members of the educational system. To accomplish these goals, the author conducted a series of focus groups with teachers and parents, developed a measure of PED, and disseminated a survey to both parents and teachers assessing the antecedents and possible outcomes affected by PED. The findings of this research aim to improve organizational communication within middle school education systems such that schools may develop prosocial strategies for (re)framing and addressing PED.


A Commutative Replicated Data Type (CRDT) is one where all concurrent operations commute. The replicas of a CRDT converge automatically, without complex concurrency control. This paper describes Treedoc, a novel CRDT design for cooperative text editing. An essential property is that the identifiers of Treedoc atoms are selected from a dense space. We discuss practical alternatives for implementing the identifier space based on an extended binary tree. We also discuss storage alternatives for data and meta-data, and mechanisms for compacting the tree. In the best case, Treedoc incurs no overhead with respect to a linear text buffer. We validate the results with traces from existing edit histories.


Immigrants who move to the United States often face the challenge of interpreting new laws and social norms (e.g., parenting norms), which may vary greatly from their native culture. Acceptable parenting practices are socially constructed beliefs, rooted in cultural context. What is acceptable in one culture may be labeled as child abuse in another. Thus, immigrant parents are at risk for having their parenting practices defined as child abuse by mainstream culture. Defining child abuse in a multicultural society is difficult. In the court system, a cultural defense brings culture into the courtroom, questioning the intent in "abusive" cultural parenting practices. This article offers suggestions that alter the response of social services and the legal system to abuse cases involving immigrant families. These changes to policy and education have potential to protect immigrant parents and families.


A study was conducted to determine the effects of subzero temperatures, seawater saturation, and low velocity impact on the flexural strength, stiffness, and life of sandwich composites. Specimens were tested statically and in fatigue using a four-point bending arrangement that included a combined metal and rubber load pad that spanned the inner loading heads and which prevented any local crushing damage. Both undamaged and impact damaged specimens were tested in room temperature (RT) dry, RT seawater saturated, -20°C dry, and -20°C seawater saturated environments. The impact energy level was chosen to produce damage that was observable, yet did not produce excessive permanent deformation. The primary results were that reducing the temperature tended to increase stiffness, strength, and fatigue life. Seawater saturation had minimal effects on strength, stiffness, or life, but influenced the static failure mode. Impact damage had little effect on the static results, but caused a significant loss in fatigue life. These results demonstrate that static test results cannot be used to infer fatigue behaviors, and indicate the need for the accurate determination of material and structural responses across the full range of expected usage environments.


Streptococcus pyogenes or group A streptococcus (GAS) is a common human pathogen responsible for a variety of diseases ranging from the uncomplicated common sore throat (pharyngitis), pyoderma (impetigo) to more life threatening conditions such as bacteremia, necrotising fasciitis, and toxic shock like syndrome. Recurrent episodes may lead to serious sequelae such as acute glomerulonephritis (APSGN) and acute rheumatic fever. Streptococcus pyogenes strains may express several distinct fibronectin binding proteins (FBP's) which are considered as major streptococcal adhesins. SfbI a GAS FBP was shown in vitro to promote both adherence and internalisation of the bacterium into host cells and has been implicated in persistence. In the tropical Northern Territory (NT) of Australia, skin and not throat is the major reservoir for isolation of GAS. Recent studies suggest association of NADase in conjunction with streptolysin O a pore forming cytolysin, in subsequent cellular toxicity and tissue destruction in invasive disease. It has also been suggested as an alternate mechanism in GAS inernalisation and subsequent persistence. This thesis investigated the association of FBP's, NADase and streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins with invasive disease propensity in isolates from bacteremia, necrotising fasciitis and uncomplicated infections. We have used molecular biological tools such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR), southern hybridisation using radiolabelled DNA probes, serological and fluorometric assays on invasive and non-invasive cases from the NT and South Western Sydney (SWS) to screen for these particular phenotypes. The sample isolates included seventy five strains from the NT (INVASIVES = 37, NON-INVASIVE= 38 and 39 from SWS (INV ASIVES = 26, NON-INVASIVE = 13). The results showed that although sfbI the gene for the FBP SfbI implicated in propensity for invasiveness and persistence is found in 60 % of NT isolates there was no significant association with invasive disease and the same was for SWS. Interestingly prtfII although not significant with a p value of 0.0732 showed a trend towards association being represented more often in invasive case isolates. In both the NT and SWS no significant association between NADase production and posession of the three streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins with invasive disease was found. There was however significantly more expression overall of speC and NADase in SWS than the NT, p = 0.0034, p = 0.0013 respectively. This is interesting, given that the overall crude incidence of severe GAS diseases in the indigenous population of the NT is much higher than SWS. It appears that these results do not directly implicate adhesins, NADase or streptococcal pyrogenic exotoxins with invaisve disease in the NT and SWS.


This study is an investigation into what mentees and mentors perceive they are learning and what factors contribute to this learning, within formal mentoring relationships. A qualitative case study approach was taken to review mentors" and mentees" learning at regular intervals throughout a pilot formal mentoring programme, within a West Midlands Healthcare Trust. The results are presented within four categories of learning: cognitive, skill-based, affective-related learning and social networks. They demonstrate the changing scope of learning as process and product, and the impact of moderating factors on the mentoring relationships. These findings have practical implications for the development and design of formal mentoring programmes elsewhere.


We investigate the usability of the Artificial Immune Systems (AIS) approach for solving selected problems in computer networks. Artificial immune systems are created by using the concepts and algorithms inspired by the theory of how the Human Immune System (HIS) works. We consider two applications: detection of routing misbehavior in mobile ad hoc networks, and email spam filtering. In mobile ad hoc networks the multi-hop connectivity is provided by the collaboration of independent nodes. The nodes follow a common protocol in order to build their routing tables and forward the packets of other nodes. As there is no central control, some nodes may defect to follow the common protocol, which would have a negative impact on the overall connectivity in the network. We build an AIS for the detection of routing misbehavior by directly mapping the standard concepts and algorithms used for explaining how the HIS works. The implementation and evaluation in a simulator shows that the AIS mimics well most of the effects observed in the HIS, e.g. the faster secondary reaction to the already encountered misbehavior. However, its effectiveness and practical usability are very constrained, because some particularities of the problem cannot be accounted for by the approach, and because of the computational constrains (reported also in AIS literature) of the used negative selection algorithm. For the spam filtering problem, we apply the AIS concepts and algorithms much more selectively and in a less standard way, and we obtain much better results. We build the AIS for antispam on top of a standard technique for digest-based collaborative email spam filtering. We notice un advantageous and underemphasized technological difference between AISs and the HIS, and we exploit this difference to incorporate the negative selection in an innovative and computationally efficient way. We also improve the representation of the email digests used by the standard collaborative spam filtering scheme. We show that this new representation and the negative selection, when used together, improve significantly the filtering performance of the standard scheme on top of which we build our AIS. Our complete AIS for antispam integrates various innate and adaptive AIS mechanisms, including the mentioned specific use of the negative selection and the use of innate signalling mechanisms (PAMP and danger signals). In this way the AIS takes into account users' profiles, implicit or explicit feedback from the users, and the bulkiness of spam. We show by simulations that the overall AIS is very good both in detecting spam and in avoiding misdetection of good emails. Interestingly, both the innate and adaptive mechanisms prove to be crucial for achieving the good overall performance. We develop and test (within a simulator) our AIS for collaborative spam filtering in the case of email communications. The solution however seems to be well applicable to other types of Internet communications: Internet telephony, chat/sms, forum, news, blog, or web. In all these cases, the aim is to allow the wanted communications (content) and prevent those unwanted from reaching the end users and occupying their time and communication resources. The filtering problems, faced or likely to be faced in the near future by these applications, have or are likely to have the settings similar to those that we have in the email case: need for openness to unknown senders (creators of content, initiators of the communication), bulkiness in receiving spam (many recipients are usually affected by the same spam content), tolerance of the system to a small damage (to small amounts of unfiltered spam), possibility to implicitly or explicitly and in a cheap way obtain a feedback from the recipients about the damage (about spam that they receive), need for strong tolerance to wanted (non-spam) content. Our experiments with the email spam filtering show that our AIS, i.e. the way how we build it, is well fitted to such problem settings.


Drug courts were established to reduce recidivism rates for substance-involved offenders who traditionally would have been sentenced to conventional probation supervision. Past research has reported success in this area, but much of the success is limited to those who graduate the program. Scholars have yet to examine the impact case outcomes and criminal sentencing have on post-participation reoffending. Yet, literature exists outside the area of drug courts, suggesting criminal sentencing, such as incarceration, may have a negative effect on offender recidivism. The current study addresses this gap in the drug court recidivism literature by examining the impact four outcomes of drug court participation (i.e., case dismissal, probation, jail, and prison) have on participant reoffending. We analyzed case outcome records of 824 drug court participants using propensity score analysis to isolate the effect criminal sentencing has on recidivism. Findings, potential policy implications, and directions for future research are discussed.


User experience design is a diverse field of study that is constantly changing as unique technologies and modes of interaction are developed. Metaphors are a critical aspect of UX design, serving to acclimate users to new technologies by comparing them to existing objects and ideas. As newer technologies become increasingly distant from real-world objects, developers are quick to look to existing technology for metaphors. This results in a lack of experience-unique metaphors that would create a more immersive experience. This thesis focused on identifying potential real-world metaphors through the use of emerging technologies in an interactive art installation. Based on observations and participant responses, it was clear that the installation was successful at establishing an engaging user experience. However, findings exposed that this experience was facilitated not by metaphor, but by stimulation more along the lines of mimicry. Though different than the initial objective, this discovery was profound due to the implications it holds for developing presence-aware technologies and spaces in the future.


Information across political, cultural, and geographical boundaries is widely communicated over a global Internet. Today we have a multilingual Internet where people converse in languages like English, Mandarin, Russian, Hindi, etc. Cyber threats in particular, originate from and are mitigated over a broad range of geographic regions. Although cybersecurity web data is vastly available on the web, it is disparate among major natural languages, decreasing interoperability on a multilingual level. The vast geographic distribution of cyber attacks increases the difficulty of employing strong cyber risk management across organizations worldwide. Cybersecurity actors, both attackers and defenders, converse over social media, blogs, dark web vulnerability markets,etc in diverse languages. These non-traditional sources are becoming an important asset for threat intelligence mining and many times are first to receive the latest intelligence about vulnerabilities, exploits, and threats. These sources are prime tools for dissemination of integral threat intelligence data, ranging from political factors such as the international origination and intention behind attacks, to technical factors such as sources of new software vulnerabilities and exploits.


A solution culture experiment was conducted with coffee seedlings (Coffea arabica L.) to determine the combined effect of ionic strength and aluminum (Al) concentration of nutrient solutions on Al availability. The treatments consisted of three Al concentrations: 0.0, 0.037, and 0.148 mmol dm⁻³. These were combined with five levels of ionic strength produced by diluting a complete nutrient solution to relative concentrations of 0.5, 0.25, 0.10, and 0.01. The phosphorus (P) concentration of each solution was adjusted to 0.1 mmol dm⁻³. The pH of the solutions was maintained at 4.0 ± 0.2. Shoot and root growth decreased progressively under the Al treatments. The lateral roots of Al-stressed plants were thicker, shorter, and fewer in number than those of the control plants. The younger leaves of Al-stressed plants were small, curled along the margins, and frequently chlorotic along the leaf margin. At a constant Al concentration, seedling growth was reduced with dilution of the nutrient solution. This decrease in growth was best correlated with an increase in the activity of Al³⁺. An Al³⁺ activity value of 1.2 × 10⁻⁵ was associated with a 10% reduction of coffee seedling growth.


The success of Plumpy'Nut® in treating severe acute malnutrition revolutionized the treatment of malnutrition and sparked efforts to develop Lipid-based Nutrient Supplement (LNS) products aimed at preventing undernutrition. The move from therapeutic to preventative LNS products has fundamental implications for supply chains and implies that private demand and the private sector will likely play central roles in the distribution of these products. We use experimental markets in rural Burkina Faso to shed light on household demand for preventative LNS and explore associated product distribution challenges. We conducted experimental auctions for a 'small quantity' (SQ) LNS product to gauge initial demand. Then, in collaboration with local vendors, we conducted a year-long market trial in 14 villages that enabled us to test the effect of both price and non-price factors on the persistence of household demand. We find that price elasticity of demand for these supplements is high on average (-5), but that persistent demand is significantly more price sensitive (-8) than first-time purchases (-2.4). We also find that a loyalty card that offers a small reward for a month of purchases strongly boosts persistent demand. Both the price and non-price demand effects diminish after a few weeks, however. Even when SQ-LNS products or other micronutrient products are cost-effective as an investment in early childhood health, our results suggest that private demand may cover less than half the production and distribution costs, underscoring the need for innovative supply chains and hybrid private-public delivery strategies.


Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is a restrictive bariatric procedure that is gaining increasing favor among bariatric surgeons in Asia due to its lower technical complexity, limited complication profiles, and good efficacy on weight reduction. Type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a global epidemic that is strongly linked with obesity. While the prevalence of T2DM and obesity has been rapidly cumulating in Asia, more and more research attentions are raised on the long-term metabolic impact of LSG on Asian T2DM patients. Although emerging systematic reviews on the long-term results of LSG have been recently published, most of these results were focusing on data from North America, Latin America and Europe. Specific attention on the long-term results of LSG on Asian T2DM patients was lacking in the literature. In this review, the current literature evidence about the long-term results of LSG on weight reduction and diabetic remission in Asian T2DM patients was analyzed.


Lyme disease has spread rapidly throughout the United States since its original discovery in 1975. An increasing threat to public health, this common vector-borne disease is transferred to a human after receiving a bite from an infected blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis). Humans have contributed to the massive influx of tick populations and Lyme disease cases through the introduction of invasive flora and fauna, overhunting of apex predators, and altering areas of land for urbanization. Quantitative data from the CDC and USDA on Lyme disease cases and whitetailed deer populations in the United States demonstrates the impact of human disruption of delicate ecosystems. My research at the Fordham University Louis Calder Biological Field Station is used as a case study on the impact of the presence of invasive Japanese Barberry (Berberis thunbergii) on plant biodiversity, and blacklegged tick densities. Invasive flora lack natural predators and are therefore able to outcompete native plant species, while creating suitable habitat for ticks. The natural and social science disciplines used to address this issue include public health, environmental history, and conservation biology. Mitigation policy solutions for this major environmental and public health issue have been tried in various geographies throughout the Northeast with limited and varying degrees of effectiveness. These policies include land management and reduction of tick habitat, invasive plant control, increased hunting of white-tailed deer, and the use of biocontrol organisms such as parasitic wasps and fungi. Given the limitation of habitat-based solutions, effective adaptation policy solutions have been developed over many years and include increased public awareness and education on proper outdoor clothing, tick removal, insect repellants, and the need for a Lyme disease vaccine


SUMMARY The results of research into the water relations and irrigation requirements of lychee are collated and reviewed. The stages of plant development are summarised, with an emphasis on factors influencing the flowering process. This is followed by reviews of plant water relations, water requirements, water productivity and, finally, irrigation systems. The lychee tree is native to the rainforests of southern China and northern Vietnam, and the main centres of production remain close to this area. In contrast, much of the research on the water relations of this crop has been conducted in South Africa, Australia and Israel where the tree is relatively new. Vegetative growth occurs in a series of flushes. Terminal inflorescences are borne on current shoot growth under cool (<15 °C), dry conditions. Trees generally do not produce fruit in the tropics at altitudes below 300 m. Poor and erratic flowering results in low and irregular fruit yields. Drought can enhance flowering in locations with dry winters. Roots can extract water from depths greater than 2 m. Diurnal trends in stomatal conductance closely match those of leaf water status. Both variables mirror changes in the saturation deficit of the air. Very little research on crop water requirements has been reported. Crop responses to irrigation are complex. In areas with low rainfall after harvest, a moderate water deficit before floral initiation can increase flowering and yield. In contrast, fruit set and yield can be reduced by a severe water deficit after flowering, and the risk of fruit splitting increased. Water productivity has not been quantified. Supplementary irrigation in South-east Asia is limited by topography and competition for water from the summer rice crop, but irrigation is practised in Israel, South Africa, Australia and some other places. Research is needed to determine the benefits of irrigation in different growing areas.


Carnivore (top-down) and resource (bottom-up) influences in food webs are strong and pervasive, but few studies have investigated their interactive effects in species-rich terrestrial ecosystems. This study focused on arthropods associated with the dominant tree species, Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae), in Hawaiian forests. Severe soil nutrient limitation on a 120-yr-old lava flow was removed by fertilization and combined with bird predator exclusion cages in a randomized block design. Arthropod densities were measured from clipped foliage at the outset and conclusion of a 33-mo experiment, and their biomass was estimated using regression equations. Metrosideros foliar nitrogen, tree growth, and biomass increased directly in response to fertilization but did not change with bird exclusion. Fertilization increased detritivore densities but not biomass, and both density and biomass of herbivores, while bird exclusion increased both density and biomass of carnivores. Fertilization also increased spider density and biomass, but bird exclusion increased spider numbers (15 species) only in high resource plots. Overall, trophic level biomass responses were less pronounced than density because smaller bodied individuals responded more to enrichment. Bottom-up factors controlled basal trophic levels, and detritivores comprised the largest fraction of arthropod density and biomass. Conversely, top-down impacts were apparent but variable, limited to higher order consumers, and did not cascade to the level of primary producers. These experimental results were consistent with the view that complex forest ecosystems are structured on a bottom-up template.


1. Introduction (by Martinez-Gil, Fernando) 2. Spanish complex onsets and the phonetics-phonology interface (by Bradley, Travis G.) 3. Phonological phrasing in Spanish (by Prieto, Pilar) 4. Hiatus resolution and incomplete identity (by Bakovic, Eric J.) 5. Depalatalization in Spanish revisited (by Lloret, Maria-Rosa) 6. Upstepping vowel height: A constraint-based account of metaphony in Proto-Spanish and Lena Asturian (by Martinez-Gil, Fernando) 7. The phonology of nasal consonants in five Spanish dialects (by Pineros, Carlos Eduardo) 8. Optimality-theoretic advances in our understanding of Spanish syllable structure (by Colina, Sonia) 9. Exceptional hiatuses in Spanish (by Cabre Monne, Teresa) 10. The Spanish stress window (by Roca, Iggy) 11. Morphological structure and phonological domains in Spanish denominal derivation (by Bermudez-Otero, Ricardo) 12. Gender allomorphy and epenthesis in Spanish (by Bonet, Eulalia) 13. A paradigm account of Spanish number (by Saltarelli, Mario) 14. Prefix boundaries in Spanish varieties: A non-derivational OT account (by Wiltshire, Caroline R.) 15. Optimality Theory and language change in Spanish (by Holt, D. Eric) 16. Duration, voice, and dispersion in stop contrasts from Latin to Spanish (by Baker, Gary K.) 17. The interaction between faithfulness constraints and sociolinguistic variation: The acquisition of phonological variation in first language speakers (by Diaz-Campos, Manuel) 18. Sonority scales and syllable structure: Toward a formal account of phonological change (by Gutierrez-Rexach, Javier) 19. Foot, word and phrase constraints in first language acquisition of Spanish stress (by Lleo, Conxita) 20. Acquistion of syllable structure in Spanish (by Morales-Front, Alfonso) 21. Constraint conflict in the acquisition of clusters in Spanish (by Barlow, Jessica A.) 22. Subject index 23. Index of constraints


Since their introduction over a decade ago, time se-ries motifs have become a fundamental tool for time series analytics, finding diverse uses in dozens of domains. In this work we introduce Time Series Chains, which are related to, but distinct from, time series motifs. Informally, time series chains are a temporally ordered set of subsequence patterns, such that each pattern is similar to the pattern that preceded it, but the first and last patterns are arbi-trarily dissimilar. In the discrete space, this is simi-lar to extracting the text chain "hit, hot, dot, dog" from a paragraph. The first and last words have nothing in common, yet they are connected by a chain of words with a small mutual difference. Time Series Chains can capture the evolution of systems, and help predict the future. As such, they potentially have implications for prognostics. In this work, we introduce a robust definition of time series chains, and a scalable algorithm that allows us to discover them in massive datasets.


Analysis of gene expression data generated by high-throughput microarray transcript profiling experiments has demonstrated that genes with an overall similar expression pattern are often enriched for similar functions. This guilt-by-association principle can be applied to define modular gene programs, identify cis-regulatory elements, or predict gene functions for unknown genes based on their coexpression neighborhood. We evaluated the potential to use Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment of a gene's coexpression neighborhood as a tool to predict its function but found overall low sensitivity scores (13%–34%). This indicates that for many functional categories, coexpression alone performs poorly to infer known biological gene functions. However, integration of cis-regulatory elements shows that 46% of the gene coexpression neighborhoods are enriched for one or more motifs, providing a valuable complementary source to functionally annotate genes. Through the integration of coexpression data, GO annotations, and a set of known cis-regulatory elements combined with a novel set of evolutionarily conserved plant motifs, we could link many genes and motifs to specific biological functions. Application of our coexpression framework extended with cis-regulatory element analysis on transcriptome data from the cell cycle-related transcription factor OBP1 yielded several coexpressed modules associated with specific cis-regulatory elements. Moreover, our analysis strongly suggests a feed-forward regulatory interaction between OBP1 and the E2F pathway. The ATCOECIS resource (http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/ATCOECIS/) makes it possible to query coexpression data and GO and cis-regulatory element annotations and to submit user-defined gene sets for motif analysis, providing an access point to unravel the regulatory code underlying transcriptional control in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana).


The proliferative capacity of gland cells in Hydra attenuata was investigated. The results indicate that both gland cell proliferation and interstitial cell differentiation to gland cells contribute to the maintenance of the whole population. On the basis of [3H]thymidine incorporation and nuclear DNA measurements, gland cells consist of at least three different populations. One population consists of rapidly proliferating cells with a cell cycle of about 72 h. These cells are distributed throughout the body column. In the lower gastric region there is a population of non-cycling cells in G2 while in the upper gastric region there is a population of non-cycling cells in G1. About half the G1 population becomes a new antigen, SEC 1, which is typical of mucus cells.


The doctrine that there are no logically necessary connections in nature can be used to support both occasionalism, according to which God alone can be a cause, and 'anti-occasionalism', according to which God cannot be a cause. Quentin Smith has recently invoked the 'no logically necessary connections in nature' doctrine in support of the latter. I bring two main objections against his thesis that God (logically) cannot be a cause. The first is that there are good reasons to think that there are irreducible dispositions in nature, and that where such dispositions are manifested, there are logically necessary causal connections. The second objection is that even if the 'no logically necessary connections in nature' doctrine is true, one is not forced to deny causal efficacy to God: with no breach in logical propriety, one may embrace occasionalism.


The Mahābhārata is, by and large, the tale of a great battle between two sections of the ancient Kuru people of the Haryana/W. Uttar Pradesh region, as told at the snake sacrifice of the post-battle Kuru king Parīkṣit. Since the Vedic texts are "tape recordings" of the Vedic period we can use them as basis for judging the less strict tradition of the Epics. To provide such a basis, the present paper is an investigation of the forces behind the formation of the Kuru realm at the end of the Ṛgvedic period. The emergence of the Kuru realm is of extraordinary importance as its civilization has influenced later Indian ritual, society and political formations, frequently even until today. Comments are welcome and will be published in a separate column of letters/discussion.


The signal peptide of preproinsulin is a major source for HLA class I autoantigen epitopes implicated in CD8 T cell (CTL)–mediated β-cell destruction in type 1 diabetes (T1D). Among them, the 10-mer epitope located at the C-terminal end of the signal peptide was found to be the most prevalent in patients with recent-onset T1D. While the combined action of signal peptide peptidase and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1) is required for processing of the signal peptide, the mechanisms controlling signal peptide trimming and the contribution of the T1D inflammatory milieu on these mechanisms are unknown. Here, we show in human β-cells that ER stress regulates ERAP1 gene expression at posttranscriptional level via the IRE1α/miR-17-5p axis and demonstrate that inhibition of the IRE1α activity impairs processing of preproinsulin signal peptide antigen and its recognition by specific autoreactive CTLs during inflammation. These results underscore the impact of ER stress in the increased visibility of β-cells to the immune system and position the IRE1α/miR-17 pathway as a central component in β-cell destruction processes and as a potential target for the treatment of autoimmune T1D.


Summary German (PDF) Summary French (PDF) Summary Serbian (PDF) This report has also been published at the EU's website http //ec.europa.eu Summary In the period after the political changes in the year 2000, GDP growth in Serbia was rather rapid and compares favourably with other transition countries in Southeastern Europe. It was driven mainly by the expansion of services, with industrial production and agriculture basically stagnating over the whole period. The labour market effects were similar to those in other countries going through transition employment declined in the public sector and increased in the private sector, with the overall number of employed declining and those unemployed increasing, and also with strong increases in the number of pensioners. The Serbian labour market is characterized by low employment and activity rates, particularly for women and young people. This indicates the weaknesses of the secondary educational system in adapting to the needs of the labour market, but also the obsolete skills of the high percentage of long-term unemployed. In general, the educational attainments of the workforce have changed only marginally over recent years. Labour mobility, as everywhere in Europe, is very low in Serbia. By contrast, Serbia's (outward) migration is very high and remittances constitute an important share of income. Brain drain has become an important issue in recent years though it is hardly a new phenomenon. However, for highly educated people, the relevant labour market is the world labour market. Informal sector employment, which has been traditionally high in Serbia, even increased during the past decade, with a rising share of older workers, better educated persons with secondary education or more, self-employed persons and unpaid family workers. During the current crisis there has been a marked decline in the number of self-employed persons, which is where most informally employed people are to be found. Serbia has not relied on consistent labour market policies to address the low level of employment and high level of unemployment. Some changes are being introduced in the crisis and post-crisis periods, but the effects are uncertain and are yet to be determined in any case. Although spending on passive and active labour market policy measures in Serbia has been growing in the past couple of years, it is still low compared to the EU average but higher than in most other Western Balkan countries. The lion's share of the available budget is spent on passive measures. An important step in order to improve the efficiency of labour market policy measures was made in 2007, when the administration of health insurance was separated from the NES which absorbed much time and efforts in the past. Transition and the current crisis have led to the development of significant structural problems in the labour markets in Serbia. The policies so far have been inadequate as they have been targeting cyclical rather than structural problems. This needs to be changed in the future with significant improvements in the policy design and the institutional support for implementation.


The implementation of successful branding strategies is crucial for all sport organizations to enhance revenue, sponsorships, and brand loyalty. To facilitate successful practices, it is important that organizations are aware of the most common branding strategies as well as the strategies of their competitors. The purpose of this study was to examine the best practices of branding strategies for the five Major League Baseball franchises in the state of California. Data were collected from five selected Major League Baseball teams. The instrument utilized in this study was a checklist covering branding strategies with an additional section for notes. The results from this study indicated that there is much consistency amongst Major League Baseball teams' websites, yet each team displayed individual approaches in displaying their brand image. As trends and strategies continue to evolve, it is important for organizations to reflect and progress.


The objective of this work is to advance the fundamental understanding of mixingand segregation of cohesive granular materials. Cohesion can arise from a variety ofsources: van der Waals forces, electrostatic forces, liquid bridging (capillary) forces.These forces may play a significant role in the processing of fine and/or moist powdersin many industries, from pharmaceuticals to materials synthesis; however, despite itsprevalence, there is only limited information available in the literature on processingof cohesive materials. Instead, the vast majority of work has been directed at thestudy of non-cohesive (i.e., free-flowing) particles, and a wealth of information hasbeen learned about the behavior of cohesionless materials. With growing emphasis oncontrolling the structure of materials at increasingly small length-scales (even tending toward the nano-scale), understanding the effects of particle interactions - which tendto dominate at smaller length-scales - on processing operations has become moreimportant than ever.This project focuses on the effects of cohesion on mixing and segregation in simple,industrially-relevant, granular flows. In particular, the paradigm cases of a slowlyrotated tumbler and the flow in a simple shear cell are examined. We take a novel approach to this problem, placing emphasis on microscopic (particle-level), discrete modeling so as to take as its staring point the well understood interaction laws governing cohesion (capillary, van der Waals, etc.), and build to the view of the macroscopic flow via experiment and Particle Dynamics Simulation. We develop and use discretecharacterization tools of cohesive behavior in order to construct a simple theoryregarding the mixing and segregation tendency of cohesive granular matter. This theory allows us to analytically determine a phase diagram, showing both mixed and segregated phases, and agrees both quantitatively and qualitatively with experiment. These results have implications for industrial mixing/separation processes as well as novel particle production methods (e.g., engineered agglomerates with preciselyprescribed compositions).


Andrew Rawnsley's "Servants of the People" is a timely and fascinating look at New Labour. Every new government promises to represent a new dawn, but for New Labour it was the Covenant that Tony Blair made with Britain. The party that won a landslide victory on May Day 1997 made the special claim that it represented a decisive break with the disappointments of the old left and the old right: its Third Way would transcend both. Having fashioned an extraordinarily wide coalition to secure power, New Labour would hold it as Servants of the People. Was that a grandiloquent way of saying the government would be enslaved to the opinion polls? Or has Tony Blair been pursuing a strategic plan, breathtaking in its audacity, to remake the political landscape of Britain in the third millennium? "Downing Street is said to be 'furious' at this book - and it is easy to understand why. It is the first meticulous chronicle of all that has happened since that bright May Day three years ago which first brought the Blair government to office". (Anthony Howard, "Sunday Times"). "Riveting ...the Government's dirty washing has been well and truly hung out in public". (Rachel Sylvester, "Daily Telegraph"). Andrew Rawnsley is associate editor and chief political commentator for the Observer. For many years he presented BBC Radio 4's Sunday evening "Westminster Hour", and he has also made a number of highly acclaimed television documentaries.


This thesis explores more efficient methods for visualizing point data sets on three-dimensional (3D) displays. Point data sets are used in many scientific applications, e.g. cosmological simulations. Visualizing these data sets in {3D} is desirable because it can more readily reveal structure and unknown phenomena. However, cutting-edge scientific point data sets are very large and producing/rendering even a single image is expensive. Furthermore, current literature suggests that the ideal number of views for 3D (multiview) displays can be in the hundreds, which compounds the costs.

The accepted notion that many views are required for {3D} displays is challenged by carrying out a novel human factor trials study. The results suggest that humans are actually surprisingly insensitive to the number of viewpoints with regard to their task performance, when occlusion in the scene is not a dominant factor.

Existing stereoscopic rendering algorithms can have high set-up costs which limits their use and none are tuned for uncorrelated {3D} point rendering. This thesis shows that it is possible to improve rendering speeds for a low number of views by perspective reprojection. The novelty in the approach described lies in delaying the reprojection and generation of the viewpoints until the fragment stage of the pipeline and streamlining the rendering pipeline for points only. Theoretical analysis suggests a fragment reprojection scheme will render at least 2.8 times faster than na\"{i}vely re-rendering the scene from multiple viewpoints.

Building upon the fragment reprojection technique, further rendering performance is shown to be possible (at the cost of some rendering accuracy) by restricting the amount of reprojection required according to the stereoscopic resolution of the display. A significant benefit is that the scene depth can be mapped arbitrarily to the perceived depth range of the display at no extra cost than a single region mapping approach. Using an average case-study (rendering from a 500k points for a 9-view High Definition 3D display), theoretical analysis suggests that this new approach is capable of twice the performance gains than simply reprojecting every single fragment, and quantitative measures show the algorithm to be 5 times faster than a naive rendering approach. Further detailed quantitative results, under varying scenarios, are provided and discussed.


During keyhole mode laser welding the absorption of the laser beam at the vapour capillary, the keyhole, takes directly place by Fresnel absorption. From ultra high speed imaging it was observed that waves stream down the keyhole front. By introducing a wavy surface to the modelled keyhole front, the dependency of the absorption on the slope of the waves was studied. Even waves of low roughness rapidly cause shadowing, particularly at low welding speed. For 1 µm-lasers the direct absorptance increases for higher waviness while CO2-lasers follow the opposite trend. The CO2-laser operates close to the Brewster-maximum for smooth keyholes, while waves introduce reflective domains. The sensitivity to waviness decreases with increasing speed for the 1 µm-wavelength lasers.During keyhole mode laser welding the absorption of the laser beam at the vapour capillary, the keyhole, takes directly place by Fresnel absorption. From ultra high speed imaging it was observed that waves stream down the keyhole front. By introducing a wavy surface to the modelled keyhole front, the dependency of the absorption on the slope of the waves was studied. Even waves of low roughness rapidly cause shadowing, particularly at low welding speed. For 1 µm-lasers the direct absorptance increases for higher waviness while CO2-lasers follow the opposite trend. The CO2-laser operates close to the Brewster-maximum for smooth keyholes, while waves introduce reflective domains. The sensitivity to waviness decreases with increasing speed for the 1 µm-wavelength lasers.


Push!Music is a novel mobile music listening and sharing system, where users automatically receive songs that have autonomously recommended themselves from nearby players depending on similar listening behaviour and music history. Push!Music also enables users to wirelessly send songs between each other as personal recommendations. We conducted a two-week preliminary user study of Push!Music, where a group of five friends used the application in their everyday life. We learned for example that the shared music in Push!Music became a start for social interaction and that received songs in general were highly appreciated and could be looked upon as 'treats'


A new process for preparation of nanocrystalline WC powder at room temperature is reported. In our process, a mixture of WO3, Mg and graphite powders are mechanically reacted under an argon gas atmosphere using a high energy ball mill. After few kiloseconds of milling (11 ks), numerous fresh surfaces of the powder are created by the repeated impact and shear forces of the balls. After 86 ks, the fresh Mg particles that have high reducing potential are oxidized, whereas the WO3 is reduced completely to a metallic W powder. In parallel, a solid state reaction between W and the unreacted graphite powders takes place to yield a fine powder of WC. At the final stage of milling (173 ks), composite WC/MgO powder particles is obtained. The MgO is removed from the matrix of WC using a leaching technique. The residual WC powder was then consolidated in vacuum at 1963 K with a pressure of 19.6 - 38.2 MPa for 0.3 ks, using a plasma activated sintering method. No binding material was used during the consolidation procedure. Under these consolidation conditions, the obtained sample is fully dense (>99.5 % theoretical density) with nanoscale grain size of about 25 nm in diameter. The elastic properties and the hardness of the consolidated sample have been determined. A model for the formation of WC at room temperature is proposed.


Electronic information resources subscribed into by academic libraries play a vital role in addressing varied user information needs and engender research and development among them. However, recent studies have indicated that there is limited access and use e-resources among postgraduate students in academic and research institutions in Kenya. Low consumption of e-resources has been attributed to limited awareness of existing about e-resources, poor training on access and uses the resources, lack of access to computers facilities for access, poor internet connectivity, and lack of information searching skills among others. This study was to assess the strategies to enhance access and use oferesources by postgraduate students in selected academic libraries in Kisii County, Kenya. A survey research design aimed at identifying library users' opinion on the access and use of e-resources was used. Stratified sampling was used to identify the students-respondents and simple random sampling used to select the library staff. While questionnaires were employed to collect data from postgraduate students and library staff, library staff in-charge of e-resources were interviewed. The study sample comprised eighty (88) postgraduate students and library staff out of a population of six hundred and seventy two (672). The data to be collected will be analysed using SPSS according to the research objectives and presented using tables, bar graphs and pie charts. The study showed among other findings, that there are increased access and use of library resources and services through the adoption and use of strategies identified in this study.


E-commerce, which covers all types of trade via the Internet, has become a promising area for modern interactive business in a highly competitive environment. The use of B2B (Business-to-Business) and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) e-commerce models is extremely important for crisis-free development of business entities. The aim of this study is to prove the need for organisational, production, and management innovations that involve the introduction of B2C and B2B e-commerce models, as well as to identify the main sources of funding for such innovations in enterprises in crisis. To study the specifics of the use of B2C and B2B e-commerce models as an important area of anti-crisis management of industrial enterprises, such research methods and techniques as a systems approach, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction were implemented. The process of managerial activity, such as making managerial decisions, is also used. The study proves that development, implementation and use of B2B and B2C e-commerce models can be seen as an integral part of business management under the threat of bankruptcy. In practice, insolvent enterprises have very limited opportunities to implement B2B and B2C e-commerce models, so in such a situation it is very important to set priorities and find their own reserves. The priority of internal sources of financing activities in the field of e-commerce of enterprises in crisis is also due to the following: domestic sources can be mobilised in a short time and, as a rule, do not require significant capital expenses; mobilisation of internal sources reduces the company's dependence on external creditors, partners and counterparts. The main way to identify internal sources of funding for projects for the development, implementation and use of B2B and B2C e-commerce models is collecting information about the organisation, results of its activities, financial condition and trends, analysis of financial indicators. The world economic development shows that those enterprises that do not pay proper attention to e-commerce do not have a chance to stay on the market for a long time. The development of e-commerce models causes a change in the structure of the economy. Effective development, implementation and use of B2B and B2C e-commerce models determines the company's ability to quickly adapt to changing external environment and stay on the market for as long as possible


This note describes tests of an adjustable blade metal model propeller, both in a free wind stream and in combination with a model fuselage, at four settings of the blades. The model propeller is designed for a uniform nominal pitch/diameter ratio of .7 and the blade settings used correspond to nominal pitch/diameter ratios of .5, .7, .9, and 1.1 at the .6 radius. The tests show that propellers of this type may be considerably changed in setting from the designed pitch angles and yet give excellent performance. The efficiency realized and power absorbed when blades are set at other than the designed angle, are little different than would be obtained from a propeller with uniform pitch equal to the mean pitch of the propeller under test.


Belief propagation over Markov random fields has been successfully used in many AI applications since it yields accurate inference results by iteratively updating messages between nodes. However, its high computation costs are a barrier to practical use. This paper presents an efficient approach to belief propagation. Our approach, Quiet, dynamically detects converged messages to skip unnecessary updates in each iteration while it theoretically guarantees to output the same results as the standard approach used to implement belief propagation. Experiments show that our approach is significantly faster than existing approaches without sacrificing inference quality.


The main objective of this paper is to present a flexible annotation management framework for a multimedia database system, applied to meeting recordings. Presented research and development activities are carried out within the scope of the IM2 project in which annotations play an important role in describing raw data from various points of view and in enhancing the query process. We focus on a database system capable of managing annotations (e.g. text transcriptions, dialog acts, speaker space position, etc.) and keeping links with raw data (audio, video, digital documents). This database provides a schema evolution mechanism and a meta-description layer ensuring flexible and incremental annotation definitions. To enhance this database system, some research works are currently in progress: a predictive methodology for schema evolution and a query technique that deals with fuzzy concepts and ontological commitments. We describe our on-going prototype development, in which we focus on data storage and interactive data access.


From the Publisher:
An intense examination of the effects of technology on literacy and language. The authors argue that there is a phenomenon transforming modern culture—language is becoming part of a technology of "information systems" with an emphasis on control, rather than human exchange. As a result, all language is becoming debased.


Digital technology has proven to enhance learning outcomes across educational sectors and contexts, yet critical challenges remain, notably: minimising the decay of digital interventions over time; and, achieving widespread learning outcomes in diverse, multicultural and complex settings (Aguayo, 2016; Dunn & Marinetti, 2008; Hennessy et al., 2019). One ambitious solution to these challenges may lie in a theoretical concept coming from biology called 'autopoiesis'. Autopoiesis, literally meaning self-making, defines living organisms as self-organising units capable of adapting to unpredictable changes in their environments while maintaining internal coherence over time (Maturana & Varela, 1980). The Santiago school of cognition (Luisi, 2016), founded on the concept of autopoiesis, considers this adaptive capacity of living organisms towards their environment as an 'intelligent' and 'cognitive' process. But most importantly, it establishes that human experience and cognition are unique to every individual and context (Thompson, 2007). This has profound epistemological consequences when designing digital technology in education, as the dominant 'one solution fits all' paradigm becomes invalid; on the contrary, digital technology and their associated educational processes on learners ought to provide as many (intelligent) solutions as individuals and contexts there are (Aguayo, 2018, 2019). Hence, from the perspective of the Santiago school, the notion of 'user experience design' (UX design) is inadequate.

Based on the above, Aguayo (2018) proposes that digital technology can be embedded with autopoietic properties found in living systems during the design of the 'user interface' (UI design), potentially creating 'intelligent' technology-enhanced learning tools, platforms, affordances, experiences and/or systems that can, in theory, self-adapt to changing conditions and socio-culturally different learners over time. This means that during the process of creating digital technology tools and affordances – or 'systems', the focus should be on developing adaptable and flexible interfaces that can actively facilitate the learning process and learning experience on users – a process termed here as 'interface experience design' or IX design. Such an epistemological view of technology-enhanced learning design becomes important given that learners bring into the learning process complex and unpredictable socio-cultural and emotional backpacks that determine their own learning experience in unique ways. Ultimately, the aim behind the notion of IX design is to promote a more efficient and adaptable type of design, development and use of technology-enhanced learning systems over time. In this session, the underlying theoretical and conceptual arguments from the Santiago school of cognition for reconsidering UI/UX design in technology-enhanced learning will be introduced and explored in relation to promoting adaptable and long-lasting meaningful learning processes on diverse audiences.


Central Asia remains one of the least known parts of the former Soviet Union. The five central Asian countries have faced enormous challenges over the last decade in reforming their health care systems, including adverse macro-economic conditions and political instability. Common strategies have involved devolving the ownership of health services, seeking sources of revenue additional to shrinking state taxes, "down-sizing" their excessive hospital systems, introducing general practitioners into primary care services, and enhancing the training of health professionals. This book draws on a decade of experience of what has worked and what has not.


A 15-year-old Hispanic boy with refractory T-cell acute lymphoid leukemia was hospitalized because of fever and pain and swelling of the right knee of 3 days' duration. The patient was taking nelarabine for a recurrence of his leukemia, which was diagnosed a year earlier. He appeared nontoxic. His temperature was 39.28C (102.68F). Other vital signs were within normal limits. The right knee was warm and tender, with mild restriction of movement.


AIM
This prospective study was designed to analyze the dependence of different factors on the recurrence rate of chronic subdural hematoma (cSDH) after surgical treatment.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
Seventy-three consecutive patients, who were surgically treated at our department due to cSDH between 2009 and 2012, were included. The following parameters were analyzed: patient age and gender, occurrence of trauma, time between trauma and admission, neurological symptoms, presence of minor diseases, intake of anticoagulation medication. We classified the results of diagnostic imaging and determined the space-consuming effect via the cerebral midline shift. In addition, we scrutinized intraoperative findings and the dependence of the position of subdural drainage on the recurrence rate of cSDH.

RESULTS
In our patient group, cSDH recurrence was significantly associated with aphasia (p=0.008). Moreover an increased cSDH recurrence rate was observed in the patient group that had a separated manifestation of the cSDH in the preoperative diagnostic imaging (p=0.048) and received no drainage implant (p=0.016). Homogeneous isodense cSDH was associated with no apparent recurrence (p=0.037).

CONCLUSION
Within the scope of this study, we detected aphasia and separated cSDH as predictors of cSDH recurrence. Homogeneous isodense cSDH seems to be a good prognostic sign regarding the risk of recurrence development. Furthermore, our data clearly emphasize the importance of surgically applied drainage implants to prevent a recurrence of cSDH.


Totally asynchronous code-division multiple-access (CDMA) systems are addressed. In Part I, the fundamental limits of asynchronous CDMA systems are analyzed in terms of spectral efficiency and SINR at the output of the optimum linear detector. The focus of Part II is the design of low-complexity implementations of linear multiuser detectors in systems with many users that admit a multistage representation, e.g., reduced rank multistage Wiener filters, polynomial expansion detectors, weighted linear parallel interference cancellers. The effects of excess bandwidth, chip-pulse shaping, and time delay distribution on CDMA with suboptimum linear receiver structures are investigated. Recursive expressions for universal weight design are given. The performance in terms of SINR is derived in the large-system limit and the performance improvement over synchronous systems is quantified. The considerations distinguish between two ways of forming discrete-time statistics: chip-matched filtering and oversampling.


Autoimmune diseases, which affect 5 to 10 percent of the population, are as unpredictable in their course as they are paradoxical in their cause. They produce persistent suffering as they follow a drawn-out, often lifelong, pattern of remission and recurrence. Multiple sclerosis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes - the diseases considered in this book - are but a handful of the conditions that can develop when the immune system goes awry. Intolerant Bodies is a unique collaboration between Ian Mackay, one of the prominent founders of clinical immunology, and Warwick Anderson, a leading historian of twentieth-century biomedical science. The authors narrate the changing scientific understanding of the cause of autoimmunity and explore the significance of having a disease in which one's body turns on itself. The book unfolds as a biography of a relatively new concept of pathogenesis, one that was accepted only in the 1950s. In their description of the onset, symptoms, and course of autoimmune diseases, Anderson and Mackay quote from the writings of Charles Dickens, Edgar Allan Poe, Joseph Heller, Flannery O'Connor, and other famous people who commented on or grappled with autoimmune disease. The authors also assess the work of the dedicated researchers and physicians who have struggled to understand the mysteries of autoimmunity. Connecting laboratory research, clinical medicine, social theory, and lived experience, Intolerant Bodies reveals how doctors and patients have come to terms, often reluctantly, with this novel and puzzling mechanism of disease causation.


This essay tells the story of Shields Green and John Copeland, two black men who joined John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. Along with Brown and several others, Green and Copeland were taken prisoner in the aftermath of the failed insurrection, and they were brought to trial in nearby Charlestown on charges of murder and treason. Unlike Brown, who was treated respectfully by his captors, Green and Copeland were handled roughly. Copeland in particular was subjected to a harsh interrogation that was criticized even by pro-slavery Democrats in the North. The black prisoners did, however, have the benefit of a remarkable attorney – George Sennott of Boston. Unlike virtually all of the other lawyers at the Harper's Ferry trials, Sennott boldly condemned slavery and announced that he was honored to defend the black insurrectionists. Sennott also employed a creative legal strategy in which he raised the Dred Scott decision as a defense to the treason charge. If black men could not be citizens, he argued, they likewise could not be guilty of treason. The tactic was only partially successful. Green and Copeland were acquitted of treason but convicted nonetheless of murder. Even after pronouncing the death penalty, the Virginia authorities continued their racist treatment of the prisoners. Green and Copeland were executed separately from their white comrades – segregation on the gallows – and their corpses were turned over to medical students for dissection, despite the frantic efforts of Copeland's family to retrieve his body for decent burial. Throughout his ordeal, and right up until the time he faced the noose, John Copeland held to his ideals. On the morning of his execution he wrote a moving letter to his parents in which he expressed devotion to the "holy cause" for which he would die, while condemning "the demands of the cruel and unjust monster Slavery."


Objective We aimed to describe the nature and frequency of gastrointestinal adverse drug reactions (GI-ADRs) of etanercept (ETN) using patient-reported and healthcare professional (HCP)-registered data and compared this frequency with the GI-ADR frequency of the widely used tumor necrosis factor-α inhibitor adalimumab (ADA). Methods Reported GI-ADRs of ETN for rheumatic diseases were collected from the Dutch Biologic Monitor and DREAM registries. We described the clinical course of GI-ADRs and compared the frequency with ADA in both data sources using Fisher exact test. Results Out of 416 patients using ETN for inflammatory rheumatic diseases in the Dutch Biologic Monitor, 25 (6%) patients reported 36 GI-ADRs. In the DREAM registries 11 GI-ADRs were registered for 9 patients (2.3%), out of 399 patients using ETN, with an incidence of 7.1 per 1000 patient-years. Most GI-ADRs consisted of diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal pain. GI-ADRs led to ETN discontinuation in 1 patient (4%) and dose adjustment in 4 (16%) in the Dutch Biologic Monitor. Eight GI-ADRs (73%) led to ETN discontinuation in the DREAM registries. The frequency of GI-ADRs of ETN did not significantly differ from GI-ADRs of ADA in both data sources (Dutch Biologic Monitor: ETN 8.7% vs ADA 5.3%, P = 0.07; DREAM: ETN 2.8% vs ADA 4.7%, P = 0.16). Conclusion Most GI-ADRs associated with ETN concerned gastrointestinal symptoms. These ADRs may lead to dose adjustment or ETN discontinuation. The frequency of ETN-associated GI-ADRs was comparable to the frequency of ADA-associated GI-ADRs. Knowledge about these previously unknown ADRs can facilitate early recognition and improve patient communication.


The aim of this research was to study the effects of Salinity & Heavy Metals on the Sporophyte & Gametophyte generations of Arabidopsis thaliana. After developing a pollen germinating protocol, some basic experiments were conducted to determine the effects on chemical & physical parameters on pollen germination & pollen tube growth. Additions of heavy metals & high concentrations of buffer (Tris-HCI) in pollen germinating medium (PGM), inhibited pollen germination (PG) & pollen tube length (PTL), while pH range (7.0-9.0) had little effect. The idea of 2-fold effect (nutritional & osmotic) of sucrose was supported in results. In vivo pollen growth was much greater than in vitro & genotypic differences occurred among the mutants for PG & PTL. Comparing the pollen nutritional requirements for PG & PTL between Cicer arietinum & A. thaliana, it was noted that the pollen of the former had a greater requirement for H(_3)BO(_3) & Ca(N0(_3))(_2) than latter. The range of temperatures (0 C-35 C) studied, indicated that the most favourable temperature for PG was 20 C & for PTL 25 C , while extreme temperatures (0 C, 35 C) were harmful to A. thaliana pollen. 20 C was found to be optimum temperature for PG & PTL of C. arietinum. Correlation between pollen tube growth rates (PTGRs) and sporophytic traits of Fls showed a generally strong positive correlation with most of sporophytic traits, but a very loose to negative correlation for earliness parameters. Recording the impacts of salinity, parallel effects were found for the sporophytic & gametophytic generations of the plant, as reported by earlier workers. The results also indicated that it is possible to develop a pollen plant salinity index (PPSI) for plant species under specific plant growing conditions. It was also observed that salinity stress during pollen gametogenesis preconditioned pollen to high salinity levels, resulting in higher PG & PTL than in pollen raised under non-saline conditions. Similarly, the fruit-setting, seed-setting & seed-filling were relatively less affected by saline-stress, in progeny when pollen and pistilate plants were grown under similar saline regimes. Anatomical studies showed that salinity induced changes in the epidermis, cortex, pericycle, xylem, pith & cross sectional diameter of vascular bundle (CSDVB) in stem, leaf & root tissues. Lower reductions for the fruit-setting, seed-setting & seed-filling were recorded in response to the high heavy metal concentrations in progeny when pollen and pistilate plants were raised under similar heavy metal regimes. It was apparent that pollen become conditioned to a stress environment during its development in the anthers of stressed plants, & this preconditioning allowed its pollen tubes to grow more successfully in the styles of the female parents growing in a similarly stressed environment, where the pistil may have accumulated higher levels of heavy metals. Heavy metals induced changes in stem shape, epidermis, cortex, vascular bundles & chloroplasts in stems. The metals induced changes in the leaf thickness, epidermis, palisade cell size, spongy mesophyll area, size of intercellular spaces & chloroplasts in the leaf, causing disruption of cortical layers, lignification of pericycle & phloem, damage to the endodermis and increase in xylem cell size & stele diameter in roots.


Ballast water released from the cargo ships often acts as an inoculation mechanism for a large number of non-indigenous species that can have an important influence on marine ecosystem's change and even devastation. The IMO's "Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments" demands the establishment of ballast water management system which should solve the question of uncontrolled taking and the operations connected to ballast water releasing. Also, it has been planned to complete the transition to ballast water treatment system. The faculty team work on project which main aim is to examine and develop the principle of technology for ballast water treatment, whose action is based on the use of the combination of filtering technology, hydrocyclone and cavitation. Until now, the project has proved the possibility of hydrodynamic cavitation appearance inside the hydrocyclone that has been an unexplored phenomenon so far. The next step of the project is to prove hydrodynamic cavitation effectiveness in a joint operation with hydrocyclone which should offer a solution for disabling and removing marine organisms from ballast water.


This work presents a Particle Collision Algorithm (PCA) to solve university course timetabling problems. The aim is to produce an effective algorithm for assigning a set of courses, lecturers and students to a specific number of rooms and timeslots, subject to a set of constraints. PCA always accepts improved solution but adaptively accepts worse solutions based on the quality of the solution. PCA differs from Simulated Annealing and other meta-heuristic approaches in that is does not have cooling schedule and does not rely on user-defined parameters. The Multi-Neighbourhood Collision Algorithm (MPCA) enhances a PCA approach that was originally introduced by Sacco for policy optimization. The structure of PCA resembles the simulated annealing structure. It differs from basic PCA in terms of improvement phase (Exploration phase). PCA perform local search in both construction solution phase and scattering phase, while MPCA perform local search (Hill Climbing based search) in the scattering phase only, which makes MPCA more capable than PCA of escaping from local optima. Also MPCA differs in terms of applying multi-neighbourhood structures. MPCA employ different neighbourhood in two stages (construction solution stage and improvement stage). We evaluate the effectiveness of MPCA on standard benchmark course timetabling datasets which were introduced by Socha. Results show that MPCA significantly outperformed other approaches in some instances and that MPCA is able to produce good quality solutions within a reasonable time.


A new module, PURM (Probability tables for the Unresolved Region using Monte Carlo), has been developed for the AMPX-2000 cross-section processing system. PURM uses a Monte Carlo approach to calculate probability tables on an evaluator-defined energy grid in the unresolved-resonance region. For each probability table, PURM samples a Wigner spacing distribution for pairs of resonances surrounding the reference energy. The resonance distribution is sampled for each spin sequence (i.e., {ell}-J pair), and PURM uses the {Delta}{sub 3}-statistics test to determine the number of resonances to sample for each spin sequence. For each resonance, PURM samples the resonance widths from a Chi-square distribution for a specified number of degrees of freedom. Once the resonance parameters are sampled, PURM calculates the total, capture, fission and scatter cross sections at the reference energy using the single-level Breit-Wigner formalism with appropriate treatment for temperature effects. Probability tables have been calculated and compared with NJOY. The probability tables and cross-section values that are calculated by PURM and NJOY are in agreement, and the verification studies with NJOY establish the computational capability for generating probability tables using the new AMPX module PURM.


Medicare and Communities of Color originates from topics in The Role of Private Health Plans in Medicare: Lessons from the Past, Looking to the Future, the final report of the Study Panel on Medicare and Markets convened by the National Academy of Social Insurance. The brief also updates information from the Kaiser Family Foundation's 1999 brief, Faces of Medicare: Medicare and Minority Americans. Medicare and Communities of Color is a factual presentation highlighting principal issues in Medicare's interaction with people of color. A National Academy of Social Insurance study panel is examining how Medicare can be a leader in reducing racial and ethnic health disparities among its beneficiaries and the rest of the health system.


The financial transaction tax (FTT) is a policy idea with a long history that, in the wake of the global financial crisis, has attracted renewed interest in some quarters. This article examines the evidence of the impact of an FTT on market quality and explores a few of the practical issues surrounding the implementation of an FTT. Proponents argue that an FTT will generate substantial tax revenues and reduce market volatility. The majority of the empirical evidence, however, supports the arguments of opponents of the tax who assert that an FTT reduces volume and liquidity and increases volatility. In addition, there are numerous challenges in implementing an FTT, which may reduce the intended revenues. Whether an FTT is beneficial hinges on its effect on market quality and its ability to raise revenues. However, there are many unanswered questions regarding its design.


Most firms begin very small, and large firms are the result of typically decades of persistent growth. This growth can be understood as the result of some form of organization capital accumulation. In the US, the distribution of firm size k has a right tail only slightly thinner than 1/k. This is shown to imply that incumbent firms account for most aggregate organization capital accumulation. And it implies potentially extremely slow aggregate convergence rates. A benchmark model is proposed in which managers can use incumbent organization capital to create new organization capital. Workers are a specific factor for producing consumption, and they require managerial supervision. Through the lens of the model, the aftermath of the Great Recession of 2008 is unsurprising if the events of late 2008 and early 2009 are interpreted as a destruction of organization capital, or as a belief shock that made consumers want to reduce consumption and accumulate more wealth instead.


For most survivors of childhood sexual abuse ("CSA"), seeking and receiving help to manage their difficult experiences of abuse are known to be complex, long and a difficult process (Gavey, 2003; Frenken & Van Stock, 1990). The experience of using such services has seldom been explored from a survivor's perspective (Chouliara et al., 2012). The aim of this study is to explore in depth the lived experience of women attending a specialist psychotherapy service for survivors of CSA. The essence was to capture the women's experience while attending a specialist psychotherapy service for CSA and the meaning they make of their experience, as well as implications this may have on their current lives. This study uses a qualitative research design paradigm. The data was collected from a small sample of women attending a UK National Health Service ("NHS") specialist service for survivors of CSA. Semi-structured interviews were employed to gather information from participants. The accumulated data was analysed using Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis ("IPA"). The three super-ordinate themes that emerged from the data included: Forming the Therapeutic Alliance, The Therapeutic Journey and Experience of Finding Their Voice. The narratives within these themes revealed the therapeutic journey which first began with the difficulties they first encountered when they felt misattuned with their therapist, continued to the forming of the therapeutic alliance, and through to the ending of the therapy relationship, drawing light on some interesting findings within each of these stages of the therapeutic process. Implications for the clinical practice of Counselling Psychology, limitations of this study, as well as recommendations for future research are considered within.


Demarque et al. investigated signaling to immature neurons and discovered tonic, spontaneous, and evoked currents mediated by neurotransmitters released through a nonconventional Ca2+-independent mechanism. Early in development--before synapses are formed--neurons contain neurotransmitter receptors, and research suggests that γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate, the principal neurotransmitters in the brain, modulate proliferation, migration, and morphological differentiation during development. The mechanisms by which neurons communicate before synapse formation, however, have remained unclear. Demarque et al. used whole-cell patch recording in embryonic and neonatal rat hippocampal slices to identify synaptically silent pyramidal cells that did not display traditional postsynaptic currents after stimulation; morphological reconstruction showed that basal dendrites were absent in these neurons. GABA receptor antagonists elicited an outward current, revealing tonic stimulation by GABA, whereas glutamate receptor antagonists had no electrical effect. Electrical stimulation elicited a 10- to 30-s current, which the authors named the early slow current (ESC); spontaneous ESCs were apparent during prolonged recording. Pharmacological analysis indicated that ESCs are mediated primarily by GABAA receptors with a component from glutamate acting through N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. The authors used transporter inhibitors to demonstrate that glutamate, but not GABA transporters, were active early in development. ESCs and tonic currents persisted in Cd2+-containing medium without added Ca2+, after treatment with botulinum toxin to block vesicle-mediated exocytosis, and in mutant mice that do not show vesicular secretion of neurotransmitter. These data suggest that immature neurons communicate through nonconventional release of neurotransmitters and that GABA spread during this developmental stage is facilitated by the lack of effective uptake mechanisms (see Owens and Kriegstein). M. Demarque, A. Represa, H. Becq, I. Khalilov, Y. Ben-Ari, L. Aniksztejn, Paracrine intercellular communication by a Ca2+- and SNARE-independent release of GABA and glutamate prior to synapse formation. Neuron 36, 1051-1061 (2002). [Online Journal] D. F. Owens, A. R Kriegstein, Developmental neurotransmitters? Neuron 36, 989-991 (2002). [Online Journal]


Online display advertising has becomes a billion-dollar industry, and it keeps growing. Advertisers attempt to send marketing messages to attract potential customers via graphic banner ads on publishers' webpages. Advertisers are charged for each view of a page that delivers their display ads. However, recent studies have discovered that more than half of the ads are never shown on users' screens due to insufficient scrolling. Thus, advertisers waste a great amount of money on these ads that do not bring any return on investment. Given this situation, the Interactive Advertising Bureau calls for a shift toward charging by viewable impression, i.e., charge for ads that are viewed by users. With this new pricing model, it is helpful to predict the viewability of an ad. This paper proposes two probabilistic latent class models (PLC) that predict the viewability of any given scroll depth for a user-page pair. Using a real-life dataset from a large publisher, the experiments demonstrate that our models outperform comparison systems.


The increased prevalence and the severity of oropharyngeal candidiasis in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive patients are attributed exclusively to the virus-induced immune deficiency of the host. The present study was aimed at answering the question of whether Candida albicans secretory proteinase, a putative virulence factor of the opportunistic C. albicans yeast, has any potential influence on the clinical manifestation of oropharyngeal candidiasis in HIV-positive patients. We measured the secretory proteinase activities of clinical C. albicans isolates from the oropharynges of either HIV-positive individuals (n = 100) or a control group (n = 122). The mean secretory proteinase activity of C. albicans isolates from the HIV-positive group (4,255 +/- 2,372 U/liter) was significantly higher compared with that of isolates from the control group (2,324 +/- 1,487 U/liter) (P < 0.05). The higher level of secretory proteinase activity in the culture supernatants of individual C. albicans isolates correlated with the increased level of proteinase expression on the cell surface, as revealed by cytofluorometry, and with higher levels of secretion of the immunodetectable protein, as shown by Western blotting (immunoblotting). Proteinase activity within the population of C. albicans isolates from HIV-positive individuals was independent of the patient's clinical disease stage and the CD4+/CD8+ cell numbers. Furthermore, no correlation of the proteinase activities with the C. albicans serotype was found, although C. albicans serotype B was significantly more frequent in the HIV-positive group (40%) compared with that in the control group (12%). However, a positive correlation of proteinase activity to antifungal susceptibility was evident. The C. albicans isolates from the HIV-positive group that were characterized by higher levels of proteinase activity were also less susceptible to the widely used azole antifungal ketoconazole and fluconazole. Collectively, the present data are consistent with a concept of early preferential selection of a subpopulation of C. albicans in HIV-infected patients.