Parasitic diseases including malaria, and other numerous microbial infections and physiological diseases are threatening the global population. Tanzanian coast shores are endowed with a variety of macroalgae (seaweeds), hitherto unsystematically explored to establish their biomedical potentials. Thus, antiplasmodial activity using malarial imaging assay, antimicrobial activity using microplate dilution technique, antioxidant activity using DPPH radical scavenging method and cytotoxicity using brine shrimp test were carried out on crude extracts from the selected species of algae (Acanthophora spicifera, Cystoseira myrica, Cystoseira trinodis, Laurencia filiformis, Padina boryana, Sargassum oligocystum, Turbinaria crateriformis, Ulva fasciata and Ulva reticulata) occurring along the coast of Tanzania. The extracts showed antimicrobial activities with MIC ranging from 0.35.0 μg/mL against Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Cryptococcus neoformans; DPPH radical scavenging activity at EC50 1.0100 μg/mL and cytotoxicity on brine shrimp larvae with LC50 value ranging from20 1000 μg/mL. The extracts from C. myrica and P. boryana inhibited growth of Plasmodium falciparum (3D7 strain) by 80 and 71%, respectively at 40 μg/mL while a sesquiterpene debromolaurinterol (1) which was chromatographically isolated from C. myrica exhibited antiplasmodial activity with IC50 20 μM whereas a sterol fucosterol (2) from P. boryana showed weak activity at 40 μM. Bioactivities portrayed by the investigated extracts indicate their ingredients as potential sources of bioactive agents that warrant further explorations.


If English is the medium, what, per Marshall McLuhan, is the message? This article explores the intrapersonal and interpersonal perceptions of power in communication of non-native English speaking students in an Australian context. Its primary objectives are to examine whether they perceive English as "power" when they communicate in English, how and why they think this, and whether there are other messages apart from "power." Findings presented in this article, based on interviews with 28 people from 13 countries in Asia, Europe, and Latin America, imply that English is both the message and the medium by which it conveys "power," "powerlessness," "privilege," "prestige," and "pleasure." It is perceived to be an extension of their voice, societal space, social and academic life, worldviews, opportunities for employment, positive affect (confidence, pride, positive attitudes toward the West, security, and comfort), relational identity, identity negotiation skills, identity negotiation competence, and intercultural contacts in Australia. In their home countries, English extends their face; societal space; positive identity, relational identity, personal identity, and identity negotiation competence; choices and opportunities in employment; and pursuit of higher education abroad and success. The implications contribute a new knowledge to McLuhan's "the medium is the message" and a direction for future research.


Point-of-Interest (POI) recommendation is a new type of recommendation task that comes along with the prevalence of location-based social networks and services in recent years. Compared with traditional recommendation tasks, POI recommendation focuses more on making personalized and context-aware recommendations to improve user experience. Traditionally, the most commonly used contextual information includes geographical and social context information. However, the increasing availability of check-in data makes it possible to design more effective location recommendation applications by modeling and integrating comprehensive types of contextual information, especially the temporal information. In this article, we propose a collaborative filtering method based on Tensor Factorization, a generalization of the Matrix Factorization approach, to model the multi-dimensional contextual information. Tensor Factorization naturally extends Matrix Factorization by increasing the dimensionality of concerns, within which the three-dimensional model is the one most popularly used. Our method exploits a high-order tensor to fuse heterogeneous contextual information about users' check-ins instead of the traditional two-dimensional user-location matrix. The factorization of this tensor leads to a more compact model of the data that is naturally suitable for integrating contextual information to make POI recommendations. Based on the model, we further improve the recommendation accuracy by utilizing the internal relations within users and locations to regularize the latent factors. Experimental results on a large real-world dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach.


The trial at Orleans in 1022 of a group of aristocratic clergy, who included the confessor of Queen Constance of France, and their followers on the charge of heresy is the most fully reported among the group of heresy trials which were conducted in the Western Church during the first half of the eleventh century. Although the alleged heretics of Orleans are usually considered a part of a wider pattern of Western religious dissent, the charges brought against them differ considerably from those levelled against the other groups brought to trial in that period. The heterodox beliefs with which the canons of Orleans were charged bear a strong resemblance to the teachings of the Byzantine abbot, St. Symeon the New Theologian, who died in 1022. St. Symeon taught that it was possible for a Christian to experience the vision of God in this life if he or she received ascetic guidance from a spiritual director, who need not be a priest. In the late tenth and early eleventh centuries a significant number of Orthodox monks visited northern Europe, including Orleans, and some of them settled there. It is therefore possible that the Canons of Orleans who were put on trial had been trained in the tradition of St. Symeon by one of those Orthodox monks who were familiar with it. St. Symeon was part of the Hesychast tradition in the Byzantine Church. Even so, his emphasis on the supremacy of personal religious experience at the expense of the corporate worship of the institutional Church was strongly criticised by some of his contemporaries. A study of his writings shows that he was, in fact, completely Orthodox in faith and practice and that these criticisms were ill-judged. Nevertheless, if, as we have suggested, the Canons of Orleans had tried to live in accordance with his teachings, the hostile reactions of the Western hierarchy would be comprehensible. For there was no tradition of Hesychasm in the spirituality of the Western Church, and the fact that the dissidents at Orleans saw little value in observing the rituals of the established Church would have alarmed conventional churchmen. Bernard and Janet hamilton 7 Lenton Avenue The Park Nottingham NG7 1 DX England, UK 32 J. Ebersolt, Orient et Occident . Recherches sur les influences byzantines et orientales en France avant et pendant les croisades, 2Paris 1954, p. 49–70.


In almost every corner of our private and public lives we rely on experts to advise us. This important species of labor is getting increasing attention from economists, who are beginning to learn how to apply their tools and assumptions to the problem of expertise. Under what conditions of supply and demand are experts likely to give us good advice? When is expert failure more likely? Do entrepreneurs challenge existing expertise? Are they experts themselves? And if economists are themselves experts, what happens when we turn the skeptical gaze of economic theory on the economist themselves? This volume publishes papers given at the third biennial Wirth Institute Conference on Austrian Economics. It brings together a heterogeneous collection of thinkers, some "Austrian" and others not, to critically engage the problem of experts. While mostly agreeing that there is a problem of experts, the papers collected here approach the issue from a variety of often-complementary perspectives.


In directing the use of military force without prior congressional authorization, Presidents invoke their authority as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States" under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution. Examples of such uses of force include the missile strikes directed by President Trump against the Syrian government in 2017 and 2018.

Yet Article II of the Constitution is not only a source of presidential war powers, it also imposes constraints on those same powers. Article II, Section 3 requires that the President "Take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed." The "Laws" encompass treaties, including the U.N. Charter, which sharply restricts the use of force by States.

This Article argues that by virtue of the Take Care Clause, Article 2(4) of the U.N. Charter binds the President as a matter of domestic law. In substantiating this proposition, this Article relies primarily upon the arguments of the Executive Branch itself in three superficially distinct, though interrelated domains. I demonstrate that the U.S. officials and experts involved in the drafting of the U.N. Charter as well as the senators who provided their advice and consent to the treaty shared an understanding that the Charter would be a "Law" within the meaning of the Take Care Clause. I then show how the President's duty to execute the Charter was a key element of the Truman Administration's constitutional justification for directing the Korean "police action" in the absence of prior congressional authorization. By synthesizing Executive Branch views on war powers, the Take Care Clause, and Article 2(4), this Article shows how Presidential arguments advancing claims of authority also delineate the scope of the corresponding constitutional duties.

The Article also rebuts a 1989 Office of Legal Counsel memorandum by now-Attorney General William Barr which concluded that the President may unilaterally "override" Article 2(4) because the treaty provision is non-self-executing and because the use of force is a "political question." I explain that though the doctrines of non-self-execution and political question may be relevant to the justiciability of Article 2(4) in the courts, neither has any bearing upon the status of Article 2(4) as a "Law" which the President is obligated to faithfully execute.

The conclusion that Article 2(4) is a "Law" has significant implications for the allocation of war powers. Contrary to Barr's 1989 memo, by virtue of the later-in-time rule, it is Congress, not the President that possesses the authority to "override" this treaty provision.


To date, investigation and policy development relating to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) have focused largely on describing patterns of resistance to individual antimicrobials, often from restricted data sources. What this approach fails to accommodate is the complexity of AMR, such as genetic linkage of resistance determinants, which could potentially lead to inaccurate inference. Novel approaches are therefore required to bring new perspectives on the epidemiology of AMR. These studies take an ecological perspective of AMR, examining several key issues: The relative contribution to AMR from animal and human populations; the potential differences between passive and active surveillance of AMR; the associations of age, antimicrobial treatment and a shared environment with AMR diversity; the relationships between AMR phenotype and genotype; and exploring the additional information provided by DNA sequencing data.

Novel ecological and epidemiological approaches were developed to examine long-term passive surveillance data of AMR in Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 (DT104) isolates from concurrently sampled and sympatric human and animal populations in Scotland. By examining the diversity and the phenotypic and temporal relatedness of the resistance profiles, the most likely source of resistance was assessed. The conclusions were that whilst ecologically connected, animals and humans have distinguishable DT104 communities, differing in prevalence, linkage, and diversity. Furthermore, the sympatric animal population is unlikely to be the major source of resistance for human DT104.

As robust data are critical to any analysis, the potential differences between data collected by different surveillance types were examined. These systems are not generally designed to detect emerging resistances. The diversity of phenotypic AMR from passive and active surveillance data of poultry Salmonella Heidelberg and swine Salmonella Typhimurium var. 5- isolates derived from animals and foods-of-animal origin were contrasted to assess their suitability for detecting emerging resistance patterns. Results indicated that active and passive surveillance approaches were potentially sampling from distinguishable microbiological communities and are therefore complementary, and that passive surveillance is better at detecting rare profiles.

The ecological and epidemiological approach was also applied to a different organism, in a different ecosystem. In order to assess the association of age and antimicrobial exposure with AMR diversity, E. coli from cows and calves on seven dairy farms were examined. There were distinguishable populations of resistance phenotypes on the farms, associated with both age and treatment. Multivariable models were developed to examine simultaneously the association of age, treatment, time, and farm with AMR diversity. These results indicated that there may be particular animal husbandry or farm management practices which influence AMR diversity, and which appear to be different for co-habiting young and adult dairy cattle.

The majority of AMR data collected by surveillance systems are phenotypic in nature. However, it is often the underlying genotype that is of interest, which until now could only be achieved with the application of molecular methods. A novel latent class Bayesian model was developed to infer the prevalence of various AMR determinants in a population given a sample of phenotypes, which was applied to animal and human DT104 data. Differences were demonstrated in the estimated prevalences of a number of AMR determinants between the two populations, further supporting the previous observations that the epidemiologies of the organism, the resistance determinants, or both, are distinguishable.

To obtain a greater resolution with which to compare AMR in different populations, a second-generation sequencing platform was used to obtain DNA sequencing data from select animal and human DT104 isolates. The objectives were to determine the diversity of the bacteria and of the resistance determinants. Whilst analysis of the resistance determinants is ongoing, preliminary results have suggested that the subtypes of DT104 infecting animals and humans are indeed similar.

Overall, these studies comprise application of novel methods and frameworks for the analysis of AMR. The implication of these studies is that greater and more explicit thought is needed regarding the design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of AMR data properly to inform policy.


We introduce a method to train Binarized Neural Networks (BNNs) - neural networks with binary weights and activations at run-time. At train-time the binary weights and activations are used for computing the parameter gradients. During the forward pass, BNNs drastically reduce memory size and accesses, and replace most arithmetic operations with bit-wise operations, which is expected to substantially improve power-efficiency. To validate the effectiveness of BNNs, we conducted two sets of experiments on the Torch7 and Theano frameworks. On both, BNNs achieved nearly state-of-the-art results over the MNIST, CIFAR-10 and SVHN datasets. We also report our preliminary results on the challenging ImageNet dataset. Last but not least, we wrote a binary matrix multiplication GPU kernel with which it is possible to run our MNIST BNN 7 times faster than with an unoptimized GPU kernel, without suffering any loss in classification accuracy. The code for training and running our BNNs is available on-line.


Allelopathic potential of bark and leaves of Esenbeckia leiocarpa Engl. (Rutaceae)). We investigated the inhibitory potential of aqueous extracts of bark and leaves of Esenbeckia leiocarpa Engl. on lettuce germination and early seedling growth. We compared the effects of four concentrations (100, 75, 50 and 25%) of each extract to water and polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) solution controls for four replicates of 50 seeds for germination and four replicates of ten seedlings for seedling growth. The inhibitory effects of E. leiocarpa extracts on the percentage of germination and on the germination speed seemed to be more than simply an osmotic effect, except for the percentage of seeds germinated in bark extracts. When compared to water control, both bark and leaf extracts delayed germination, and leaf extracts also affected the percentage of germinated seeds. Leaf extracts of all concentrations strongly inhibited the development of seedlings and caused them some degree of abnormality; bark extracts also caused abnormalities and reduced seedling growth. Root development was more sensitive to the extracts than hypocotyl growth. The negative effects of leaf extracts on germination and seedling growth were more pronounced than those of bark extracts, and the overall effects of both extracts were positively correlated with extract concentrations.


The inter-related social and ecological facets of global sustainability imply that the way society develops will impact the environment. Development presents complex, multifaceted challenges. Interventions in the developing world in the form of projects created by the agencies, organizations and agents of the international development community increasingly appreciate and seek to address these challenges. Yet, to do so effectively, interventions need to shift from fragmented, sector-specific approaches based on formal data reports to approaches that anticipate, adapt, transform, and learn. This research aims to complement and support the practical and theoretical knowledge of rural development agents with insights from practitioners using approaches that consider complexity in other fields, in order to explore how development interventions could play a role in moving society toward sustainability. A prototype guide for rural development interventions synthesizes results gathered from interviews with rural development agents within Latin America and learning experience designers into three levels: system, interaction, and personal. The Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD) provides a systems perspective and unifying definition of sustainability. The interaction level presents key recommendations, rationale, and methods for action, and the personal level presents reflection questions. This research hopes to inspire mutual learning between development actors and communities.


Law Schools are under ever-increasing criticism for their failure to teach lawyers how to actually practice law—particularly on the transactional side of the practice. That criticism is basically a criticism of the caselaw method of teaching law school subjects—a method that relies upon the reading of appellate decisions providing lessons in common law doctrine that are applied to a particular set of facts. While there are plenty of things to criticize in the current law school curriculum, the fundamental benefits of the caselaw method is actually not one of them—even for those who seek to become transactional lawyers rather than litigators. Indeed, to attempt to teach the "how" of contract drafting without a proper grounding in the "why" of contract drafting would be a waste of time. Certainly more practice skills courses taught by those that have actually practiced for a significant period of time would be a good thing—but not at the expense of the basic curriculum taught by the old fashioned, but effective, caselaw method. Instead, what is needed is a recognition of the value of the caselaw method in actually teaching transactional practice skills as well as common law doctrine, the mastery of which is essential to becoming a good transactional lawyer. What follows, then, is a Syllabus created by the author for a contract drafting course that seeks to balance the teaching of practice skills with the importance of a solid grounding in relevant caselaw; together with a collection of blog postings by the author regarding how various contract provisions in the M&A arena should evolve (but not always have evolved) in response to developments in the caselaw. The blog postings are all available at privateequity.weil.com glennwestmusings. Many of the cases listed in the Syllabus are the subject of one of the blog postings that highlights the specific drafting issue and the common law doctrinal issue involved. This should be considered a supplement to my Contract Drafting 101: A Checklist Derived From Recent Case Law, http://ssrn.com/abstract=2805481.


Background Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease characterised in part by an imbalance of endothelial decline and endothelial repair. Erythropoietin has been connected to vasculoprotective effects such as enhanced nitric oxide production in endothelial cells and mobilisation of endothelial progenitor cells (EPC). Objective To determine the effect of erythropoietin on endothelial function and EPC mobilisation in humans with atherosclerosis. Design A prospective single-blind monocentric study of 20 patients randomly assigned to the test drug or placebo treatment over 4 weeks. Methods 20 Patients with stable coronary artery disease receiving optimal medical treatment with either weekly subcutaneous injections of saline (placebo) or the recombinant erythropoietin darbepoetin (60 μg/injection) over 3 consecutive weeks. At the initial and final visits, flow mediated dilatation (FMD) was determined by ultrasound. The number of EPC was determined as the number of CD34/CD133 positive mononuclear cells in peripheral blood. Results Treatment with darbepoetin resulted in a significantly improved FMD in each patient, whereas no difference was seen in placebo-treated patients. The FMD of darbepoetin-treated patients increased by 7.5±1.64%. Additionally, an increase in peripheral blood EPC of 50±24% was seen. Conclusion Darbepoetin given in addition to optimal medical treatment resulted in a significantly improved endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease, indicating a promising new atheroprotective treatment option.


The unique matrix-isolated (MI) Fourier transform infrared spectra of diethyl ether, propanal, and trifluoromethane are compared with their vapor-phase spectra. The marked increase in resolution seen in the MI spectra is accompanied by substantial frequency shifts from the peaks in the vapor-phase spectra. The spectra were generated with a gas chromatographic/matrix isolation/Fourier transform infrared spectrometer, with the use of frozen Ar at 13 K as the isolating matrix. The spectra of the 22 isomers of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin show that each isomer can be distinguished and quantitated at the nanogram level. In addition, preliminary quantitative data were obtained for the pesticides Terbufos® and Fonofos®. Finally, a problem with a previously published spectrum of C-13 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin was uncovered, and it was shown that the spectrum was actually that of C-13 2,3,7-trichlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.


Live streaming of video content using overlay networks has gained widespread adoption on the Internet. This paper presents Sepidar, a distributed market-based model, that builds and maintains overlay network trees, which are approximately minimal height, for delivering live media as a number of sub streams. A streaming tree is constructed for each sub stream such that nodes that contribute higher amounts of upload bandwidth are located increasingly closer to the media source at the root of the tree. While our distributed market model can be run against a random sample of nodes, we improve its convergence time to stabilize a tree by executing against a sample of nodes that contribute similar amounts of upload bandwidth. We use the Gradient overlay network to generate samples of such nodes. We address the problem of free-riding through parent nodes auditing the behaviour of their child nodes. We evaluate Sepidar by comparing it in simulation with state-of-the-art New Cool streaming. Our results show significantly improved playback latency and playback continuity under churn, flash crowd, and catastrophic failure experiment scenarios. We also show that using the Gradient improves convergence time of our distributed market model compared to a random overlay network. Finally, we show that Sepidar punishes the performance of free-riders, and that nodes are incentivized to contribute more upload bandwidth by relatively improved performance.


Enabling non-experts to publish data on the web is an important
achievement of the social web and one of the primary goals of the social
semantic web. Making the data easily accessible in turn has received only
little attention, which is problematic from the point of view of
incentives: users are likely to be less motivated to participate in the
creation of content if the use of this content is mostly reserved to
experts.
Querying in semantic wikis, for example, is typically realized in terms of
full text search over the textual content and a web query language such as
SPARQL for the annotations. This approach has two shortcomings that limit
the extent to which data can be leveraged by users: combined queries over
content and annotations are not possible, and users either are restricted
to expressing their query intent using simple but vague keyword queries or
have to learn a complex web query language.
The work presented in this dissertation investigates a more suitable form
of querying for semantic wikis that consolidates two seemingly conflicting
characteristics of query languages, ease of use and expressiveness. This
work was carried out in the context of the semantic wiki KiWi, but the
underlying ideas apply more generally to the social semantic and social
web.
We begin by defining a simple modular conceptual model for the KiWi wiki
that enables rich and expressive knowledge representation. A component of
this model are structured tags, an annotation formalism that is simple yet
flexible and expressive, and aims at bridging the gap between atomic tags
and RDF. The viability of the approach is confirmed by a user study, which
finds that structured tags are suitable for quickly annotating evolving
knowledge and are perceived well by the users.
The main contribution of this dissertation is the design and
implementation of KWQL, a query language for semantic wikis. KWQL combines
keyword search and web querying to enable querying that scales with user
experience and information need: basic queries are easy to express; as the
search criteria become more complex, more expertise is needed to formulate
the corresponding query. A novel aspect of KWQL is that it combines both
paradigms in a bottom-up fashion. It treats neither of the two as an
extension to the other, but instead integrates both in one framework. The
language allows for rich combined queries of full text, metadata, document
structure, and informal to formal semantic annotations. KWilt, the KWQL
query engine, provides the full expressive power of first-order queries,
but at the same time can evaluate basic queries at almost the speed of the
underlying search engine. KWQL is accompanied by the visual query language
visKWQL, and an editor that displays both the textual and visual form of
the current query and reflects changes to either representation in the
other. A user study shows that participants quickly learn to construct
KWQL and visKWQL queries, even when given only a short introduction.
KWQL allows users to sift the wealth of structure and annotations in an
information system for relevant data. If relevant data constitutes a
substantial fraction of all data, ranking becomes important. To this end,
we propose PEST, a novel ranking method that propagates relevance among
structurally related or similarly annotated data. Extensive experiments,
including a user study on a real life wiki, show that pest improves the
quality of the ranking over a range of existing ranking approaches.


Today, when the social model that produced contemporary cities is highly challenged, city models need to be revised, together with the "urban and territorial frame," especially the infrastructural model. The new city model asks for an updated infrastructural, relational and settlement system. Theories about urban regeneration and sustainability, are pointing in this direction. This research aims to find a new role for the infrastructural-relational system, in the context of an innovative idea of the city as well as the society living within it. Fields of interest are: analysis of spatial configurations, new approaches to city re-planning, a new conception of urban infrastructures, and the possible role of infrastructures in a stage of conceptual change, like that of European cities. The main aim is to define a specific way to redesign the infrastructural-relational system inside the contemporary idea of a city, and to redefine urban system planning, basing it on the main project of its own frame. This is possible by applying innovative tools, which care about risks that affect the city, current social changes, and transformational tendencies aimed at preservation. In this context, the city of L'Aquila, Italy is a highly effective example: after the 2009 earthquake which ravaged this city, there have been a series of fast transformations as a result of the urgency of facing this emergency. Instead of continuing with haphazardly chosen solutions, there is great potential for a city like L'Aquila to be the central focus of a conscious re-planning, according to innovative structural models, which respond to the needs of contemporary society.


While the regulation of tenancy arrangements is widespread in the developing world, evidence on how such regulation influences the long-run allocation of land and labor remains limited. To provide such evidence, this paper exploits quasi-random assignment of linguistically similar areas to different South Indian states and historical variation in landownership across social groups. Roughly thirty years after the bulk of tenancy reform occurred, areas that witnessed greater regulation of tenancy have lower land inequality and higher wages and agricultural labor supply. We argue that stricter regulations reduced the rents landowners can extract from tenants and thus increased land sales to relatively richer and more productive middle caste tenants; this is reflected in aggregate productivity gains. At the same time, tenancy regulations reduced landowner willingness to rent, adversely impacting low caste households who lacked access to credit markets. These groups experience greater landlessness, and are more likely to work as agricultural labor.


Introduction: In Africa, it is estimated that cardiovascular disease (CVD) will affect approximately 1.3 million people per annum over the following 20 years. C-reactive protein (CRP) is a predictor of CVD risk and certain CRP gene polymorphisms can result in altered CRP concentrations. The distribution of CRP gene polymorphisms is ethnic-specific and extrapolating information from other populations to the black South African population, reported to harbour considerable genetic variation, should be avoided. This highlights the fact that genetic research among black South Africans is necessary. Objectives: The main aim of this dissertation was to determine the association between various polymorphisms (reported and novel [single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)] within the CRP gene with CRP concentrations [measured as high sensitivity (hs)-CRP concentrations] in a black South African population undergoing an epidemiological transition. Interactions between specific CRP polymorphisms and certain environmental factors on hs-CRP concentrations were also investigated. Methods: This cross-sectional study (n=1,588) was nested within the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study. Genotyping was performed using Illumina VeraCode technology on the BeadXpress platform. Hs-CRP concentrations were measured by the use of a sequential multiple analyser computer (SMAC) through a particle-enhanced immunoturbidometric assay. Results: All the SNPs adhered to the assumptions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, although the distribution of several SNPs differed from that reported in other population groups. Three SNPs (rs3093058, rs3093062 and rs3093068) were associated with a significant (p ≤ 0.05) increase in CRP concentrations. Five SNPs (rs1205, rs1341665, rs2794520, rs7553007 and rs2027471) were associated with a significant (p ≤ 0.05) decrease in CRP concentrations. This difference in effect was most probably due to changes in gene function brought about by the localisation of these SNPs in the CRP gene. Men and urban individuals were more likely to present with significant associations between the SNPs investigated and CRP concentrations. The difference in the prevalence of the alleles associated with higher CRP concentrations in this population compared to non-African populations could possibly explain the increased CRP concentrations that are observed in the black South African population. Gene-gender (rs1205, rs1341665 and rs2027474) as well as gene-environmental (rs3093068) interactions were also observed. Conclusions: CRP concentrations are in themselves a complex trait and there are many factors at play that influence their expression. Numerous factors (both genetic and environmental) are involved and no single factor acting alone is likely to have enough of an influence to be used as a clinical diagnostic test of CRP concentrations. These results provide valuable information on the regulation of CRP in a black South African population as well as contribute to the literature of CRP on a global level.


Abstract. The design and scale of a future mission to directly image and characterize potentially Earth-like planets will be impacted, to some degree, by the expected yield of such planets. Recent efforts to increase the estimated yields, by creating observation plans optimized for the detection and characterization of Earth-twins, have focused solely on coronagraphic instruments; starshade-based missions could benefit from a similar analysis. Here we explore how to prioritize observations for a starshade given the limiting resources of both fuel and time, present analytic expressions to estimate fuel use, and provide efficient numerical techniques for maximizing the yield of starshades. We implemented these techniques to create an approximate design reference mission code for starshades and used this code to investigate how exoEarth candidate yield responds to changes in mission, instrument, and astrophysical parameters for missions with a single starshade. We find that a starshade mission operates most efficiently somewhere between the fuel- and exposuretime-limited regimes and, as a result, is less sensitive to photometric noise sources as well as parameters controlling the photon collection rate in comparison to a coronagraph. We produced optimistic yield curves for starshades, assuming our optimized observation plans are schedulable and future starshades are not thrust-limited. Given these yield curves, detecting and characterizing several dozen exoEarth candidates requires either multiple starshades or an ηEarth≳0.3.


The modulation of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)-related head-twitchbehaviour by antimigraine drugs and migraine triggers was examined inmice. The antimigraine drugs examined produced either inhibition or noeffect on 5-HT-related head-twitching. On the basis of these resultsit is suggested that 5-HT-related head-twitching is unlikely to beuseful in the preclinical screening and discovery of systemically-activeantimigraine agents. The migraine triggers examined, tyramineand beta-PEA initially produced a repeatable complex time-relatedeffect on 5-HT-related head-twitching, with both inhibition andpotentiation of this behaviour being observed, however, when furtherexamination of the effect of the migraine triggers on 5-HT-relatedhead-twitching was attempted some time later the effects seeninitially were no longer produced. The effect of (±)-1-<2, 5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane,((±)DOl), on on-going behaviour of mice and rats was examined. Shakingbehaviour was observed in both species. In mice, excessive scratchingbehaviour was also present. (±)DOl-induced scratching and shakingbehaviour were found to be differentially modulated by noradrenergicand serotonergic agents, however, the fact that both behaviours wereblocked by ritanserin (5-HT2/5-HT1c receptor antagonist) and inhibitedby FLA-63 (a dopamine-beta-oxidase inhibitor which depletesnoradrenaline), suggests the pathways mediating these behaviours mustbe convergent in some manner, and that both behaviours require intact5-HT receptors, probably 5-HT2 receptors, for their production. Ingeneral, the behavioural profile of (±)DOI was as expected for anagent which exhibits high affinity binding to 5-HT2/5-HT1c receptors.Little sign of the 5-HTl-related '5-HT syndrome' was seen in eithermice or rats. The effect of a variety of noradrenergic agents on head-twitchinginduced by a variety of shake-inducing agents was examined. A patternof modulatory effect was seen whereby the modulatory effect of thenoradrenergic agents on 5-hydroxytryptophan <5-HTP) (and in some cases, 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeODMT)) was found to be the opposite of that observed with quipazine and (±)DOI. The relationship between these effects, and their implications for understanding the pharmacology of centrally acting drugs is discussed.


A 2007 U.K. court case involving Donegal, a private equity fund, and the Republic of Zambia, has contributed to an ongoing debate about the operation of so-called vulture funds in African and other developing countries. Donegal sued Zambia for more than fifty-five million U.S. dollars in connection with a debt owed by Zambia to Romania for Zambia's acquisition of agricultural machinery from Romania pursuant to a credit agreement dated April 17, 1979. Donegal acquired the Zambian debt from Romania in 1999 at some eleven percent of face value. Although the Donegal court explicitly limited its scrutiny to the legal questions raised by the case rather than questions of morality and humanity, the moral and ethical considerations connected with the activities of vulture investors are significant. This is particularly true in Africa, which in the post-colonial period has experienced poor economic performance in both absolute and relative terms, as well as significant and even increasing levels of poverty. Poverty has exacerbated political instability in Africa. African institutional, political, and economic contexts have bearing on the operation of so-called 'vulture funds', which are typically private equity or hedge funds that seek to profit by repurchasing debt at a discount and then collecting from the debtor country at face value or an even higher amount. Commercial transactions such as the Donegal-Zambia relationship should be considered in light of the realities of such contexts.


An essay contribution to a publication appearing as part of the 37 pieces of flair project. 37 pieces of flair is a 3 part season of arts and cinema starting in September with 4 film screenings at The Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, followed by a publication launch in early October and concluding with an exhibition and events programme at The NewBridge Project, Newcastle-upon-Tyne throughout November. Unlike countless other mental health themed Film Seasons or exhibitions, 37 pieces of flair will focus its attention less upon the individual stories of enduring mental health problems and rather take a step back in an attempt to grasp a broader look at, or investigation of, the society and its culture from which they emerge.
Curated by Andrew Wilson and Toby Lloyd for the NewBridge Project the exhibition features John Smith, Graham Dolphin, David Foggo, Dave Sherry and Roy Andersson, and continues until 17 January 2015.
The publication will be launched at The NewBridge Project, 12 NewBridge St. West, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8AW from 6 – 9pm, Friday 21 November as part of the exhibition preview. It includes a diverse collection of writing and artworks by Alisdair Cameron, Joanne Lee, David Korowicz, Chris Erskine, Mark Fisher, Harry Palmer, Andrew Wilson, Sneha Solanki, Amy Mackeldon, Tom Walker, Pauline Sallis, Topsy Qu'ret, Nick Malyan, Joe Posset and Francis Mckee.
I spoke about the political dimensions of friendship at the closing event for the '37 pieces of flair' exhibition at The NewBridge Project, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Disconnected Paragraphs: Friends reunited & a daily dose of democratic material or sweetshop toxicity, also involved Harry Palmer and took place in the NewBridge Project Space on Friday 16th January.


When applied by the largest investors, the endowment model has created impressive returns over the past 20 years. However, this style of portfolio management comes with a special set of risks. First, portfolio managers need to be concerned about the interactions among spending rates, inflation, and the long-term asset value of the endowment. Second, a portfolio with as much as 60% invested in alternative assets raises concerns of liquidity risk and the ability to rebalance the portfolio when necessary. Finally, portfolios with high allocations to assets with equity-like characteristics and low allocations to fixed income require the portfolio manager to consider how to protect the portfolio from tail risk, which is a large drawdown in portfolio value during times of increased systemic risk. Those wishing to replicate the results of the most successful endowment and foundation investors need to consider the risks to inflation, liquidity, and extreme market events, while adding value through rebalancing and the successful selection of active managers. A focus on alternative investments also requires a greater degree of investment manager due diligence, evaluating both investment and operational risks.


According to prognoses milder winters with more precipitation, warmer and dry summers, and extreme fluctuations in the precipitation and temperature should be expected in the Pannonian region from the 2nd decade of the 21st century. The first aim of this study was to discuss the predicted climate phenomena endangering regional soils and deploying methods of measures in the alleviation. Examples of soils deterioration to be typical in seasons and confirmation that tillage should be an important tool realising soil preservation solutions in the practice are presented. Considering the predicted climate extremes most of classical beliefs are to be supervised. The effects of the rain stress e.g. washing dust and clay colloids down, surface siltation, soil settlement, extension of the existing compact layer and deteriorating crumb fraction in regional soils are demonstrated. Negative impacts of the drought stress on soils are also presented, among others, soil desiccation, unutilised water below serious pan layers, crumb reduction and increased dust and crust formation. The first evidence of the investigation is that climate will be more incalculable in the next decades, and for this reason applying mitigation methods is really urgent. The second evidence refers to the soil tillage which could take part in the degree of climate induced damages through soil condition modification.


Foursquare. Hopscotch. Duck, Duck, Goose. While styles of play vary, one striking aspect of children's folk games is their ubiquity. This characteristic poses an interesting puzzle: how do the folk games of childhood begin? How do they spread across great distances and persist across multiple generations of children? Why are they adopted in certain geographies, among certain socioeconomic groups, and certain age cohorts? How do they disappear?
Folklorists of childhood have tended to emphasize the ways in which social networks and meeting points between children act as transmission points. The playground, summer camp, and school serve as prominent scenes of transaction in this work. These accounts rely on a social mode of transmission: a play practice is learned, modified, and transmitted among children in their interactions with one another.
This paper offers a conjecture around an alternative mode of diffusion that emanates from the built landscape itself. It explores the notion that vernacular architecture contains a latent space of games which can facilitate the simultaneous, independent discovery of a game across geographies. It leverages what Gary Fine dubs a "ecotypic" approach to folklore, one which looks at the relationship between children's lore and the environment that it takes place within. In doing so, this analysis aims to propose one causal link bridging broader economic, political, and social forces with the playful spaces they often accidentally create.
The paper proceeds in three parts. First, the paper proposes a set of relationships between games and physical spaces. Second, it examines one case study for this conjecture, looking at the game "The Floor is Lava" and its relationship to the development of the suburban home of the United States in the mid- to late-20th century. Third, it will lay out a research agenda based on this initial analysis, suggesting a set of further explorations on the topic.


Two stationary stimuli successively flashed in spatially separated positions generates the so-called apparent motion illusion. The illusion depends on the precise spatial and temporal separations of the stimuli and is called long-range apparent motion (lrAM) for large spatiotemporal(ST) separations[1]. Since these values extend well beyond the typical selectivity of early visual neurons, it is unclear how the visual system computes motion signals from such sequence of static stimuli. We investigated whether a global motion representation could emerge at the level of V1 population in response to a two-stroke lrAM through lateral interactions[2]. We used voltage-sensitive dye imaging[3] to study in real-time the V1 population activity of two fixating monkeys in response to lrAM stimulations, whose velocity(direction and speed) was manipulated. We observe the emergence of a ST representation of the global motion:a cortical correlate of the illusory motion[4]. This ST representation of V1 population is shaped by non-linear interactions:the apparition of the second stimulus generates a spread of suppression in the direction opposite to the AM at a speed compatible with the horizontal propagation, independent of the stimulus' speed. Such spread of suppression acts as a fast normalization[5] that optimally shapes the ST representation of global motion along the AM path, to accurately represent the stimulus velocity. To validate this hypothesis, we applied an opponent motion energy model[6] on the observed and linearly-predicted V1 activity. The model systematically produced the largest energy for the appropriate direction and speed on the observed activity and failed for the linear prediction. Our results suggest that motion signal can emerge at the level of V1 population in response to lrAM, a signal that could then be decoded by downstream areas. [1] Cavanagh & Mather(1989). Spat.Vis.,4(2-3),2-3. [2] Muller et al.(2014).Nat.Comm.,5. [3] Chemla & Chavane(2010).J.Physiol-Paris,104(1),40-50. [4] Jancke et al.(2004).Nature,428:423-6. [5] Reynaud et al.(2012).J.Neurosci,32(36),12558-12569. [6] Adelson & Bergen (1985).JOpt.Soc.Am.A,2:284-299. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


Partial differential equations are paramount in mathematical modelling with applications in engineering and science. The book starts with a crash course on partial differential equations in order to familiarize the reader with fundamental properties such as existence, uniqueness and possibly existing maximum principles. The main topic of the book entails the description of classical numerical methods that are used to approximate the solution of partial differential equations. The focus is on discretization methods such as the finite difference, finite volume and finite element method. The manuscript also makes a short excursion to the solution of large sets of (non)linear algebraic equations that result after application of discretization method to partial differential equations. The book treats the construction of such discretization methods, as well as some error analysis, where it is noted that the error analysis for the finite element method is merely descriptive, rather than rigorous from a mathematical point of view. The last chapters focus on time integration issues for classical time-dependent partial differential equations. After reading the book, the reader should be able to derive finite element methods, to implement the methods and to judge whether the obtained approximations are consistent with the solution to the partial differential equations. The reader will also obtain these skills for the other classical discretization methods. Acquiring such fundamental knowledge will allow the reader to continue studying more advanced methods like meshfree methods, discontinuous Galerkin methods and spectral methods for the approximation of solutions to partial differential equations.


People spend an enormous amount of time and effort looking for lost objects. To help remind people of the location of lost objects, various computational systems that provide information on their locations have been developed. However, prior systems for assisting people in finding objects require users to register the target objects in advance. This requirement imposes a cumbersome burden on the users, and the system cannot help remind them of unexpectedly lost objects. We propose GO-Finder ("Generic Object Finder"), a registration-free wearable camera based system for assisting people in finding an arbitrary number of objects based on two key features: automatic discovery of hand-held objects and image-based candidate selection. Given a video taken from a wearable camera, Go-Finder automatically detects and groups hand-held objects to form a visual timeline of the objects. Users can retrieve the last appearance of the object by browsing the timeline through a smartphone app. We conducted a user study to investigate how users benefit from using GO-Finder and confirmed improved accuracy and reduced mental load regarding the object search task by providing clear visual cues on object locations.


"Many governments in developing countries attempt to foster agricultural development and innovation by setting up funding facilities, extension programs, and research centers and by subsidizing private-sector and farm activities through fiscal measures. However, when trying to manage complex innovation processes involving many and different actors, governments sometimes find it difficult to design effective interventions and therefore end up supporting and managing only the public research and extension organizations that directly depend upon them. With the aid of various donors, Bolivia introduced a scheme in 2001—the Bolivian Agricultural Technology System (SIBTA)—by which government support to agricultural research and extension was partly delegated to regional semiautonomous foundations. This brief presents the results of a study on the role of the Bolivian government in guiding and managing SIBTA. The study found that despite a number of weaknesses related to the design of the system and the government's limited commitment, the regional foundations have been able to effectively identify the demands of small farmers, set priorities, and provide transparency and accountability with regard to funding and decisionmaking. It suggests that instead of micromanaging such foundations, the government should focus on the big picture and conduct policy analysis and strategic planning to identify opportunities for agricultural innovation and set up incentive mechanisms and information networks that support the many actors involved in innovation processes." from text


This paper describes how the use of simulation as an integral element of transit facility design has become increasingly popular with the development of new software in a transportation engineer's toolbox. Beyond the most basic operational assessments, these tools have the ability to demonstrate people movements, frequently traveled paths, and separately, levels of service. Of particular interest to architects and designers, the simulations provide improved and, at times, more realistic results that better clarify and illustrate the "effectiveness" of their work in a dynamic manner. Furthermore, gone are the days of only relying on spreadsheets and bringing to the public a few rudimentary tables listing analysis results. It is now commonplace for public interest groups to frequently expect consultants to have such a dynamic graphical tool at the ready for them to examine. STV is involved in a number of projects that require input as to how transportation terminals and stations will function well before design alternatives have been finalized. In fact, the provision for simulation efforts has been a required evaluation criterion for the acceptance of specific conceptual and preliminary design schemes. Given today's heighten security concerns, accounting for rapid emergency egress is of paramount interest to designers. Pedestrian simulation modeling allows for the relatively quick analysis of multiple pedestrian scenarios including emergency evacuation and normal circulation possibilities, which realistically assigns people to the nearest exits, measures egress times, identifies points of congestion, and requires minimum preparation time. The capabilities and advantages of pedestrian simulation modeling will be demonstrated based on analyses performed for projects such as the design of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's World Trade Center Transportation Hub and the reconstruction of New York City Transit's Cortlandt Street 1 Train station within WTC Site. Both projects are intermodal in nature, and involve the complex "mixing" of people from many origins and destinations. The images and videos provided by the simulation, and included with this paper, have proven to serve as powerful and conclusive input to designs that provide for the smooth and efficient movement of people through stations and terminals.


In this article, the nature, evolution and characteristics of conscious and unconscious emotions which determine the internal regulation of behavior are traced. Definitions of the nature of emotions and feelings of other authors are presented, and studies which reflect the cognitive relationship of emotional processes are cited. A classification of two different personality types has been considered (alexithymic and repressor), who differently express their emotions, because of their cognitive peculiarities. The main idea of the article is based on tracing the specifics of emotional expression and intensity.


Ultrafine-grains (UFG) are induced by warm or cold-rolling process under severe plastic deformation. A transition of microscopic structure of a metal caused by behaviors of dislocations is closely connected with a macroscopic deformation. The information of dislocation field and deformation field is desirable to be coupled in the case of simulation of UFG formation. Profiles of formation process of UFG, e.g., aspects of subdivision and induced grain sizes, are expected to be numerically predicted. In this paper, a numerical method for estimating generation of subdivisions is proposed, and also the induced grain size is introduced into a strain rate sensivity model as an argument. A dislocation-crystal plasticity FE simulation based on the geometrically necessary crystal defects proposed in the previous paper and on the above model is carried out for large deformation of an FCC polycrystal under severe compression plane strain. Distributions of crystal defects and crystal orientations in a specimen are visualized and the influence of strain on separation of grains and one of strain rate sensitivity on refinement of grains under cold-rolling process are discussed in detail.


Abstract. In order to mitigate the potentially dramatic effects of natural hazards, risk management measures are critical. However, the lack of
interdisciplinary indicators and adaptable governance frameworks highlights society's vulnerability in the particular context of global environmental
and climate change. This interdisciplinary research aimed at identifying reliable risk indicators and societal responses regarding natural hazards
and climate change impacts to provide a governance framework for disaster risk reduction. Different societies face diverse risks and do not
necessarily have the same level of local awareness of these risk. To explore the diversity of risks, two sites were selected from the Mediterranean
basin, one chosen from the south coast (north Morocco) and the other from the north coast (the Italian island of Sardinia). North Morocco, a region of
multi-risks, is characterised by high demographic and economic pressures; west Sardinia has remarkable biodiversity of wetlands and is
characterised by high environmental and agricultural pressures, which in both cases intensify the vulnerability of the coastal areas. Testing for
the local population's preparedness for future financial protection allowed for discussing the importance of risk awareness sessions or activities as an
indicator of risk management. The significance of risk awareness sessions is shown in a quantitative part of the study, and its importance is also
discussed with local stakeholders in north Morocco in a qualitative part of the study. It is shown that, although risk awareness sessions are
recognised as important in risk management, they are not necessarily implemented. Based on these findings, further ideas on a new series of less
descriptive, more dynamic and more user-friendly indicators are suggested. How can risk sessions be a dynamic indicator of a resilient society? The
obtained results could serve in future governance frameworks for the mitigation of natural hazards in the Mediterranean region and more widely. Finally,
the urgent need for continuous work to overcome the communication gap between the scientific community, risk administrators, civil society and the
general population is emphasised.


Why should a developing country surrender its power to create money by adopting an international currency as its own? This comprehensive book explores the currency problems that developing countries face and offers sound, practical advice for policy makers on how to deal with them. Manuel Hinds, who has extensive experience in real-world economic policy making, challenges the myths that surround domestic currencies and shows the clear rationality for dollarization or the use of a standard international currency. The book opens with an entertaining story of the Devil, who, through a series of common macroeconomic maneuvers, coaches the president of a mythical country into financial ruin. This ruler's path is not unlike that taken in several real developing countries, to their detriment. Hinds goes on to introduce new ways of thinking about financial systems and monetary behavior in Third World countries.


Originating from a concern about the use of terms in hydroinformatics, this paper takes up the question of the nature of a definition and its consequences in a technical, and increasingly sociotechnical field like hydroinformatics. It is explained that the way things are defined is not so simple and so obvious as might at first appear, but is in fact an essentially ideological matter, having consequences not only within an individual discipline, but also for the applications of that discipline within a wider context. A mode of definition that satisfies the needs and expectations of hydroinformatics is then advanced. The notion of a defining self is introduced in order to explain how the influences of the mode of definition attains to a greater influence in social and ecological applications. This influence is exerted through communication, which is necessarily realised through the use of tokens. The four classes of tokens necessary for all processes of communication are introduced, delineated and defined. The way in which such broad concepts as 'reality' and 'truth' are defined is then seen to influence the definition of a model in the widest sense. Further definitions that are of central concern in hydroinformatics are developed accordingly. The paper concludes with a description of a phenomenon known only by its German name, as Gerede, that is at the root of much current confusion of terms in hydroinformatics, as in so many other places, and how its malign influences can be opposed.


This paper describes the development and application of an advanced method of condition assessment for large-diameter, cement mortar-lined steel pipelines operated by the Hetch Hetchy Water and Power Project of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. The most accurate method of pipeline condition assessment is in-line inspection (ILI) using advanced nondestructive electronic methods to scan the full circumference and length of the pipeline for damage by corrosion and other causes. This technology, commonly known as 'smart pigging', has become relatively straightforward in unlined steel pipelines used in the oil and gas industry. However, the presence of mortar lining in water pipelines has, until now, limited the accuracy of ILI inspection and hindered development of practical ILI methods for large diameter, mortar-lined steel pipelines. This ILI project was conducted over a 3-year period and included development of magnetic flux leakage (MFL) tools, a caliper tool, and propulsion equipment to move the tools through the pipeline. Two full-scale field inspections using the equipment were conducted on a total of 13miles of historic pipeline. The results were of immediate use in managing the pipeline asset. The benefits of using this advanced method of condition assessment are compared to the traditional method using records and indirect indicators of pipeline condition.


Title of Document: ENERGETIC BIOCIDAL MATERIALS AND SPORE NEUTRALIZATION Wenbo Zhou, Doctor of Philosophy, 2015 Directed By: Professor Michael R. Zachariah, Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry The objective of this dissertation is to explore a more accurate and versatile approach to investigating the neutralization of spores suffered from ultrafast heating and biocide based stresses, and further to explore and understand novel methods to supply ultrafast heating and biocides through nanostructured energetic materials A surface heating method was developed to apply accurate (± 25  ̊C), high heating rate thermal energy (200 800  ̊C, ~10 ~10  ̊C/s). Uniform attachment of bacterial spores was achieved electrophoretically onto fine wires in liquids, which could be quantitatively detached into suspension for spore enumeration. The spore inactivation increased with temperature and heating rate, and fit a sigmoid response. The neutralization mechanisms of peak temperature and heating rate were correlated to the DNA damage at ~10  ̊C/s, and to the coat rupture by ultrafast vapor pressurization inside spores at ~10  ̊C/s. Humidity was found to have a synergistic effect of rapid heating and chlorine gas to neutralization efficiency. The primary neutralization mechanism of Cl2 and rapid heat is proposed to be chlorine reacting with the spore surface. The stress-kill correlation above provides guidance to explore new biocidal thermites, and to probe mechanisms. Results show that nano-Al/K2S2O8 released more gas at a lower temperature and generated a higher maximum pressure than the other nano-Al/oxysalts. Given that this thermite formulation generates the similar amount of SO2 as O2, it can be considered as a potential candidate for use in energetic biocidal applications. The reaction mechanisms of persulfate and other oxysalts containing thermites can be divided into two groups, with the reactive thermites (e.g. Al/K2S2O8) that generate ~10× higher of pressure and ~10× shorter of burn time ignited via a solid-gas Al/O2 reaction, while the less reactive thermites (e.g. Al/K2SO4) following a condensed phase Al/O reaction mechanism. These different ignition mechanisms were further re-evaluated by investigating the roles of free and bound oxygen. A constant critical reaction rate for ignition was found which is independent to ignition temperature, heating rate and free vs. bound oxygen. ENERGETIC BIOCIDAL MATERIALS AND SPORE NEUTRALIZATION


This paper presents preliminary results of the direct deposition of nano- and microstructures of zinc oxide on materials used in medicine. The coatings were deposited on cotton gauze and polyamide fabric. During the research the biological activity of these materials was defined. Performed were also tests of doping the ZnO structures with silver obtained. The research has proved that there is a growth of zinc oxide structures both on the gauze and polyamide fabric. The nanostructures deposited on it did not become detached from the surface, even though the material was subjected to ultrasonic rinsing. In addition, good biocidal properties of both of the textile materials modified were found. Furthermore a complex surface analysis of catheters: vascular and urological was made. ZnO was deposited on catheters, but they were characterised by low adhesion.


This study had used the DeLone and McLean (2003, 2004) up-stream model of e-commerce success to evaluate Malaysia's e-government flagship applications In this article, we present the evaluation results of Malaysia's six e-government
flagship applications from internal end-users' perspective. The six flagship applications assessed were eservices, e-procurement, generic office environment, human resource management information system, project monitoring system and electronic labor exchange.This study adopted a cross-sectional survey research approach. A total
of 437 questionnaires were distributed to non-clerical staff at seven lead implementing agencies namely the Road Transport Department (RTD), Treasury, the Malaysia Administration and Modernisation Planning Unit (MAMPU), Public Service Department (PSD), Ministry of Human Resources (MOHR), the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) and the Ministry of Health (MOH). The usable response rate was 29.7%. There was evidence to suggest that the e-government applications were generally successful in lead implementing agencies.


A new explanation is presented for a reported replacement, in a metagabbro, of calcic plagioclase (An (sub 50-55) ) by discrete more calcic (An (sub 65-93) ) and more sodic (An (sub 18-33) ) plagioclase phases, by a process of exsolution. In contrast to a possible exsolution origin from unstable incommensurate plagioclase structures during long, slow cooling, it is proposed here that a two-stage metamorphic process is the most likely cause for the presence of the two different feldspars. An initial high-pressure breakdown of magmatic Ca-plagioclase produced branching bundles of lath-shaped zoisite crystals set within a residual more sodic plagioclase. Later breakdown of the zoisite, at lower pressure, gave rise to the present-day occurrence of discrete anorthite (or Ca-rich plagioclase) laths in a more sodic feldspar matrix.


Knowledge of species, interest in nature, and nature experiences are the factors that best promote interest in and understanding of environmental issues, biodiversity and sustainable life. The aim of this study is to investigate how well student teachers can identify common local species, their interests in and ideas about species identification and about the importance of species identification for biodiversity and sustainability. Totally 456 student teachers for primary schools were tested using an identification test and a questionnaire consisting of fixed and open questions. A combination of quantitative and qualitative methods was used to get a more holistic view of students' level of knowledge. The student teachers in Nordic countries identified species reasonably well, while the student teachers in Lithuania identified only up to four species. Experiential learning outdoors was suggested by the majority of students as the most efficient learning method, followed by experiential learning indoors, project work and experimental learning. They regarded the knowledge of species as 'important' or 'very important' for citizens today, for sustainable development and for biodiversity. Our conclusion is that teaching and learning methods for education of biodiversity and sustainable development should always include experiential and project-based methods in authentic environments.


The expansion of markets for crawfish outside the South Central United States is largely dependent on obtaining the support of grocery stores. Two hundred grocery store managers in each of the nine census divisions in the United States were interviewed by telephone to characterize the store, clientele and sales of stores handling crawfish products. Stores more likely to market crawfish were members of a chain, either low or high volume operations or located in the Mountain or Pacific census divisions. Primary reasons for stores not handling crawfish were a lack of demand and perceived unfavorable consumer attitudes toward crawfish.


This paper proposes a detailed methodology for constructing an AM digital twin, for the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) process. An important aspect of the proposed digital twin is the incorporation of model uncertainty and process variability. A virtual representation of the LPBF process is first constructed using a physics-based model. To enable faster computation required in uncertainty analysis and decision-making, the physics-based model is replaced by a cheaper surrogate model. A two-step surrogate model is proposed when the quantity of interest is not directly observable during manufacturing. The data collected from the monitoring sensors is used for diagnosis (of current part quality) and passed on to the virtual representation for model updating. The model updating consists of Bayesian calibration of the uncertain parameters and the discrepancy term representing the model prediction error. The resulting digital twin is thus tailored for the particular individual part being produced, and is used for probabilistic process parameter optimization (initial, before starting the printing) and online, real-time adjustment of the LPBF process parameters, in order to control the porosity in the manufactured part. A robust design optimization formulation is used to minimize the mean and standard deviation of the difference between the target porosity and the predicted porosity. The proposed methodology includes validation of the digital twin, in two stages. Validation of the initial model in the digital twin is performed using available data, whereas data collected during manufacturing is used to validate the overall digital twin.


: Optical inspection cannot resolve critical defects at advanced nodes and cannot detect subsurface defects. Especially at 7nm and below, many yield and reliability killer defects are the result of interactions between lithography, etch, and fill. These defects often will have part per billion (PPB) level fail rates. Conventional e-Beam tools lack the throughput to measure PPB level fail rates. A solution is required with several orders of magnitude higher throughput than conventional e-Beam tools without sacrificing the ability to measure sub-20nm feature sizes. PDF has developed the DirectScan technology to scan billions of patterns of interest per hour. This DirectScan technology is an eBeam inspection technology that is designed and optimized to scan random product layout patterns. Using sophisticated product layout analyses, scanning recipes are created to drive the tool time of DirectScan technology to focus upon measuring relevant, voltage contrast observable layout shapes. PDF has deployed this tool on nodes ranging from 28nm down to 4nm products for at layer full wafer inspection within 24 hours or proportional sampling within 2 and 4 hour queue time limits. The results have enabled quantifying PPB fail rates per layout pattern in product die, identifying wafer spatial systematics associated with pattern fails, and detecting leakage currents corresponding to reliability risks.


Yields of commercially important crops in Kenya are often far below their potential. Amongst the possible reasons for such low yields may be the ecosystem degradation that can be expected to have negative impacts on pollinator presence in cropland, and the consequent food security issue for smallholder farmers who depend on these crops for their livelihood. Our study was carried out to assess the potential pollination deficit of French beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), a major export vegetable crop in Kenya grown by small-scale farmers. Sufficient pollination of French beans likely results in high seed set and uniform heavier green pods. Such pods get the highest grade while malformed pods are unmarketable, reducing family income. We hypothesized that pollination success was linked to the abundance and diversity of large pollinators, itself associated with the proximity to natural habitats. Flower visitors to French beans were sampled in 2011 and 2012 in ten farmer-managed plots, five within 200 m from the edge of Mt. Kenya forest and five farther away, more than 1000 m. Each plot measured 760 m and was planted at the same time, with the "Julia" variety. Flowers were observed for 2 h in each plot once weekly for three weeks at peak flowering from 0900-1100 h in the morning and 1200 – 1400 h in the afternoon on alternate days. Honey bees (Apis mellifera) were the most abundant visitors of French bean flowers followed by carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.) and leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.). Significantly higher numbers of leafcutter bees were recorded on farms far to the forest. There was no significant difference in honey bee abundance among the study sites, probably because apiaries and wild colonies are located across the landscape. French bean yield was significantly correlated with the mean abundance of carpenter bees in 2011. This suggests the possible occurrence of pollination deficit in French beans where the density of carpenter bees is insufficient, which was reflected by the high variability of yields in the farmland. We advocate that area-wide management and conservation of carpenter bees should be initiated to support French bean farming in the area.


The recent financial crisis has stimulated a renewed interest in understanding the determinants of stock price crash risk (i.e., left tail risk). Recent research shows that opaque financial reports enable managers to hide and accumulate bad news for extended periods. When the accumulated bad news reaches a certain tipping point, it will be suddenly released to the market at once, resulting in an abrupt decline in stock price (i.e., a crash). This study extends this line of research by examining the impact of financial reporting opacity on perceived or expected crash risk. Prominent economists, such as Olivier Blanchard, argue that removing the perception of tail risks (in addition to realized tail risks) is crucial in restoring investor confidence and stabilizing the stock market. Using the steepness of option implied volatility skew as a proxy for perceived crash risk, we find that accrual management, the presence of financial statement restatements, and auditor-attested internal control weakness are all positively and significantly associated with the level of perceived crash risk. Our results suggest that improving financial reporting transparency is an important mechanism for firms and policymakers to reduce the perception of tail risks and stabilize the stock market.


While off-target dicamba injury to soybean has dominated the news the past year, it is important to recognize that dicamba is not the only Group 4 herbicide (HG4) capable of injuring soybean. These herbicides mimic the activity of indole acetic acid (IAA), a hormone that regulates the activity of numerous genes involved in plant growth. IAA also is referred to as auxin. HG4 products can induce plant responses at lower doses than most other herbicide groups, thus off-target injury has been a problem since their introduction in the 1940's. This article will discuss some of the problems observed this growing season. All HG4 cause malformed leaves, and distinguishing symptoms between products is difficult (Figure 1). Timing of symptom development and patterns of injury are important in identifying the source of injury. Disciplines Agricultural Science | Agriculture This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cropnews/2487 2/26/2019 Crop Injury Associated with Growth Regulator Herbicides | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/07/crop-injury-associated-growth-regulator-herbicides 1/6 Integrated Crop Management Crop Injury Associated with Growth Regulator Herbicides July 3, 2018 While off-target dicamba injury to soybean has dominated the news the past year, it is important to recognize that dicamba is not the only Group 4 herbicide (HG4) capable of injuring soybean. These herbicides mimic the activity of indole acetic acid (IAA), a hormone that regulates the activity of numerous genes involved in plant growth. IAA also is referred to as auxin. HG4 products can induce plant responses at lower doses than most other herbicide groups, thus off-target injury has been a problem since their introduction in the 1940's. This article will discuss some of the problems observed this growing season. All HG4 cause malformed leaves, and distinguishing symptoms between products is difficult (Figure 1). Timing of symptom development and patterns of injury are important in identifying the source of injury. 2/26/2019 Crop Injury Associated with Growth Regulator Herbicides | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/07/crop-injury-associated-growth-regulator-herbicides 2/6 Figure 1. Typical dicamba symptoms on soybean. Carryover following use in corn Clopyralid is sold individually as Stinger, but in corn is more commonly used in the premixes Hornet and SureStart. While clopyralid has a much longer half-life than 2,4-D and dicamba, the rates used in corn typically do not carryover at toxic concentrations into the following season. However, many areas of the state were rain deficient during the 2017 growing season, leading to increased persistence. When clopyralid residues are responsible for damage to soybean, symptoms typically appear by the V1 stage (first trifoliate). Damage is usually associated with soil type or in streaks related to spray overlaps, rather than field wide injury. Spread of contaminated hay or planting of soybeans into former pastures HG4 are commonly used in pastures and hay fields for broadleaf control. Grazon P+D and GrazonNext are popular products that contain picloram and aminopyralid, respectively. Like clopyralid, these two herbicides are relatively persistent. These herbicides can persist at phytotoxic concentrations in the soil, in forage harvested from treated fields, and in manure of animals consuming forage. Problems may develop when bales of hay from treated fields are placed or spread in fields to be planted to soybean (Figure 2). Concentrations can be high enough to severely damage, or even kill, emerging soybean. Several instances of this type of injury have been observed this year. 2/26/2019 Crop Injury Associated with Growth Regulator Herbicides | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/07/crop-injury-associated-growth-regulator-herbicides 3/6 Figure 2. HG4 injury from spreading hay from field treated with picloram on field planted to soybean. Drift from adjacent fields Undoubtedly, movement of HG4 from treated areas is the most common source of offtarget injury. Off-target injury from use of dicamba in Xtend soybean was a significant problem in Iowa in 2017. Last year we estimated that 150,000 acres of soybean in Iowa were damaged. However, it is important to recognize that HG4 are used in other areas than soybean. We are aware of numerous situations this season of dicamba used in corn damaging adjacent soybean, and each year HG4 use in roadsides results in damage to sensitive plants. Dicamba use in Xtend soybean poses a greater risk than when used in corn since it is applied later in the season. Numerous label changes and required training for applicators using dicamba on soybean should help reduce the frequency of off-target damage, but it is too early in the season to determine the impact of these changes. In 2017, reports of dicamba injury in soybean did not begin until after July 4 in north central Iowa. Numerous reports of injury have been reported in 2018, at this time mostly in southern Iowa. Mistaken sources of injury The widespread occurrence of herbicide resistant weeds has resulted in an increase in both the quantity and frequency of herbicide applications in soybean. This increases the likelihood of adverse crop responses – sometimes dicamba gets blamed for damage that it isn't responsible for, and sometimes dicamba injury is blamed on other factors. The distinct symptom of dicamba is cupping of leaves that emerge after exposure; this injury is typically not noticed for 7-14 days after application due to the time it takes for new leaves to emerge following exposure. The number of leaves affected is determined by the rate of exposure. All HG4 cause distorted leaf growth, but there can be differences in the type of leaf malformations caused by different herbicides. Frequently 2,4-D results in elongated, strapped leaves in contrast to the cupping normally observed with dicamba (Figure 3). However, dicamba-type cupping occasionally may be caused by other HG4, and elongated leaflets may develop following dicamba exposure. Thus, it is always critical to identify the source of problem rather than assigning blame based solely on the symptomology observed. 2/26/2019 Crop Injury Associated with Growth Regulator Herbicides | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/07/crop-injury-associated-growth-regulator-herbicides 4/6 Figure 3. Elongated leaflet associated with preplant 2,4-D application with sprayer malfunction resulting in excessive rate. There has been discussion that AMS used with Liberty and other postemergence products may be the source of leaf cupping. AMS has a long history of use as a spray additive, and leaf cupping is not a plant response associated with AMS. The use of group 15 herbicides (Dual, Warrant, Zidua, etc.) has greatly increased in soybean to improve waterhemp control. These herbicides may cause abnormal development of leaves, but the symptoms do not involve the veinal distortion typical of dicamba or other HG4. The classic symptom of preemergence applications of HG15 is shortening of the midrib on leaflets, resulting in heart-shaped leaflets. Post applications can also cause this symptomology, or they can 2/26/2019 Crop Injury Associated with Growth Regulator Herbicides | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/07/crop-injury-associated-growth-regulator-herbicides 5/6 cause other distortion of leaflets, resulting in irregular margins of leaflets (Figure 4). Sometimes, distortion of developing leaves can happen with POST applications of the HG14 contact products as well. This distortion is generally accompanied by some contact burn. Figure 4. Leaf malformations following postemergence application of HG 15 product. Note lack of symmetry in symptoms on leaflets. Group 4 herbicides are important tools for managing weeds in a variety of situations. While effective tools, their ability to induce plant responses at fractions of label rates requires a higher level of management than other herbicides. When symptoms of 2/26/2019 Crop Injury Associated with Growth Regulator Herbicides | Integrated Crop Management https://crops.extension.iastate.edu/cropnews/2018/07/crop-injury-associated-growth-regulator-herbicides 6/6 HG4 appear it is important to identify the source of the herbicide, and take steps to avoid repeat occurrences in the future. Links to this article are strongly encouraged, and this article may be republished without further permission if published as written and if credit is given to the author, Integrated Crop Management News, and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. If this article is to be used in any other manner, permission from the author is required. This article was originally published on July 3, 2018. The information contained within may not be the most current and accurate depending on when it is accessed. Category: Weeds Crop: Soybean Tags: dicamba growth regulator Soybean herbicide injur Authors: Bob Hartzler Professor of Agronomy Dr. Bob Hartzler is a professor of agronomy and an extension weed specialist. He conducts research on weed biology and how it impacts the efficacy of weed management programs in corn and soybean. Dr. Hartzler also teaches undergraduate classes in weed science and weed identificatio... Meaghan Anderson Field Agronomist in Central Iowa Meaghan Anderson is a field agronomist in central Iowa and an extension field specialist at Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. Educational programming is available for farmers, agribusinesses, pesticide applicators, certified crop advisors, and other individuals interested in...


Since the first of January 2016, the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) has become fully operational. For the Member States of the European Banking Union the new regime entails a transferral of the decision-making on failing banks to the European level, specifically the Single Resolution Board (SRB). The political sensitivity hereof is illustrated by the European and Italian reaction to the mounting troubles in some parts of the Italian banking sector. The new European regime raises the question if, and if so to what degree, Member States participating in the European Banking Union (EBU Member States) retain discretion in determining the course of action for, and future of, a troubled bank. This question is explored along three lines of inquiry. First, we analyse the degree of harmonisation provided for by the BBRD and SRM. The second line of inquiry analyses EBU Member States' influence in the SRB's decisionmaking process. The third line of inquiry considers the possibilities (if any) for a public recapitalisation of troubled banks without applying the new general bail-in standard.
 Our first line of inquiry leads us to conclude that the EBU Member States have surrendered the decision-making on bank resolution to the EBU level, specifically to the SRB. The SRM regulation, consequently, provides for maximum harmonisation, leaving no room for national resolution tools. National resolution powers which operate and compete in the same area as the SRM, such as the Dutch nationalisation law, must thus be held as inapplicable.
In the second line of inquiry we found that the SRM has both a supranational and an intergovernmental dimension. While the SRB in its executive session has a strong supranational character Member State influence in bank resolution decision remains present through the involvement of the Council and the SRB in plenary session in key decisions.
In the third line we conclude that the rules imposed by the BRRD and SRM Regulation in combination with the State aid regime have rendered public recapitalisation without a bail-in virtually impossible.


India's energy sector has been receiving a great deal of attention in recent years, particularly since the signing of the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC) in 1992. In almost every forum dealing with the mitigation of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), reference is inevitably made to the worrisome prospect of China and India burning huge quantities of coal in the future, adding to the concentration of GHGs in the earth's atmosphere. There are those who feel that these two countries should be persuaded to reduce their dependence on coal by adopting a set of appropriate policies and harnessing technological developments that would encourage a shift toward less carbon-intensive energies in the future. Yet developing countries still have very low levels of energy production and consumption per capita (see Figure 1), and a large percentage of their population still does not have the benefit of the goods and services that developed countries have been using for decades. A sudden shift from coal to other energy sources, such as renewable energy, would require extremely costly capital investments and, in the short to medium term, higher outflow of foreign exchange to finance oil imports. In other words, a reduction in dependence on coal would not favor the economic interests of countries like China and India for at least the next 15 to 20 years. [Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] While the path that India adopts in the development of its energy sector is a subject of growing interest, there is a lack of understanding and awareness within the international community about the dilemmas India faces in making its future energy choices. The country as a whole has very low levels of energy consumption per capita--a function of widespread poverty and uneven development. Many of India's approximately one billion people still lack access to electricity in their homes, and the country's infrastructure with respect to energy supply, transportation, telecommunications and health care is very weak. Looking ahead, the economic well-being of the population will require significant increases in energy consumption in the near future. When India attained independence in 1947, almost all its supply of electricity was confined to a few towns and cities, with a total installed electricity capacity of around 1300 megawatts (MW). None of the rural areas had access to any modern fuel except kerosene. This low capacity would have been barely adequate for lighting 100 watt bulbs in 13 million homes, scarcely 20 percent of the country's population at the time, and would have no energy left for industry or other end uses. Over the past five decades the largely government-owned energy supply industry has attempted to spread the supply of commercial energy throughout the country But while 80 percent of the country should in theory have access to grid-based power, less than 20 percent of rural households actually consume electricity. Since power is available only in limited quantities, priority is given to uses such as irrigation pumping for agriculture and most rural households cannot afford to invest in wiring their homes for electricity In terms of per capita energy consumption, India has a long way to go.(1) Energy policy must be targeted toward expanding the supply of all domestic resources, including coal. In terms of commercial energy resources, India currently has approximately 84,000 MW of conventional hydroelectric potential, 5,000 MW of small hydro potential, approximately 700 million tons of crude oil, 0.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas and 70 billion tons of coal. Hence coal is by far India's most important commercial energy resource, providing nearly 93 percent of its total energy.(2) The problem is that processing coal has negative environmental effects, such as large-scale air pollution resulting from the accumulation of ash through burning. Accordingly, there are those who argue that India should decrease its use of domestic coal resources. …


We describe how the business corporation gradually emerged in the 17th century in response to the need to lock in long-term capital to profit from trade opportunities with Asia. Since contractual commitments to lock in capital were not fully enforceable in partnerships, this evolution required a legal innovation, essentially granting the corporation a property right over capital. Locked-in capital exposed investors to a significant loss of control, and could only emerge where and when political institutions limited the risk of expropriation. The Dutch East India Company (VOC, chartered in 1602) benefited from the restrained executive power of the Dutch Republic and was the first business corporation with permanent capital. The English East India Company (EIC, chartered in 1600) kept the traditional cycle of liquidation and refinancing until, in 1657, the English Civil War put the crown under strong parliamentary control. We show how the time advantage in the organizational form had a profound effect on the ability of the two companies to make long-term investments and consequently on their relative performance, ensuring a Dutch head start in Asian trade that persisted for two centuries. We also show how other features of the corporate form emerged progressively once the capital became permanent.


This Thesis presents Case Study research (Yin, 2009) into e-learning, in the situated context of a
part-time postgraduate blended learning programme in clinical education [Postgraduate
Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Clinical Practice]; and addresses a significant challenge
for tutors: how to intervene in online discussions in order to achieve the highest quality of
engagement by all participants.
Utilising a parallel convergent mixed methods approach (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2009; Creswell
& Plano-Clark, 2011), this study offers insights into the perceptions and experiences of tutors
and students regarding the role of the tutor within the online learning environment, and in
particular, it explores the influence of the tutor on the development of true dialogue in an online
discussion board, rather than a bulletin board of unconnected statements, or 'serial monologue',
which a number of authors have identified (Henri, 1991; Pawan et al, 2003; Garrison &
Arbaugh, 2007). Thus, the project is essentially a praxis-driven exploration (Carr & Kemmis,
1986) of a complex and ill-defined aspect of teaching practice.
Data-collection was primarily by means of semi-structured interviews (Punch, 2009; Kvale,
2007), and by detailed analysis of the online Discussion Board archive (Garrison et al, 2000;
Dawson et al, 2011; Sackville & Sherratt, 2006; Blignaut & Trollip, 2003a).
A theoretical model has emerged from analysis of study data (Sherratt, 2012), which classifies
students' expectations of tutor intervention and support into four broad categories, represented
graphically as quadrants of a square diagram. This model (along with its associated list of
diagnostic indicators and tutor responses), offers a way of differentiating the highly divergent
needs and expectations of students within the e-learning context, with regard to tutor input and
support. Lessons for practice, both locally and elsewhere, arising out of this differential model,
with its diagnostic indicators and suggested tutor responses, are explored and discussed.


This paper examines the efficiency of the Treasury Bond futures market in Australia. We provide a comprehensive explanation of the method used to price, and evaluate efficiency of the 3 and 10 Year Australian Treasury Bond Futures contracts, against underlying bond baskets. Results indicate that the futures contracts exhibit minimal variation from their theoretical value. The average mispricing equates to 1.96 basis points for 3 Year and 1.19 basis points for 10 Year government bond futures contracts. However, during some periods (including the financial crisis of 2008), the bond futures contracts exhibit greater mispricing. Consistent with prior literature, we find a decreasing pattern of mispricing towards expiry, with the futures contract yields and average forward yields of the underlying bonds converging towards expiry. Further analysis reveals that volatility and time to expiry exhibit a significant positive relationship with the absolute level of mispricing.


Traditional economic models of land-use change have focused on factors such as distance to population centers, available labor supply, population density, and patterns of existing infrastructure, such as roads. While such models can reproduce urban sprawl, they do not address such fundamental issues as the causes of initial human settlement locations, variation in the growth rates of different urban centers, and the ecological con- sequences of different economic drivers. A complementary approach, based on properties of the environment related to net primary productivity, predicts the temporal and spatial patterns of development and land-use change associated with three distinct phases of eco- nomic development: agricultural, industrial, and information/communication. Initial land- use patterns, established in response to environmental constraints on agriculture, are se- lectively amplified based on the subsequent requirements for industrialization. These en- vironmental constraints are later relaxed during the information/communication phase of development, which affects portions of the landscape that were little affected by the first two phases. This sequence of events produces a predictable change in the distribution of human population density and land-use intensity that impacts different components of biodiversity over time. The agricultural phase tends to eliminate those components of biodiversity that depend on high-productivity environments, while preserving those com- ponents that can survive on marginal lands. However, the transition from an industrial to an information-driven economy breaks the linkage between productivity and land-use in- tensity, and allows intensification of human impacts in areas that had been protected by the constraints imposed by agricultural and industrial economies. As a consequence, the remaining reservoirs of biodiversity on marginal lands are now being threatened as formerly remote rural areas are being developed for recreational and residential use, particularly in the western United States.