The Charlie Hebdo massacre in January 2015 and the subsequent attacks of November 13 cast a garish light onto a conundrum at the center of how liberal democracies understand themselves. The Syrian emigrant crisis has added further color. How can a tolerant, liberal political culture tolerate the presence of intolerant, illiberal, sub-cultures while remaining true to its principles of tolerance? The problem falls within the intersection of two developments in the thinking of John Rawls, the great American political philosopher who died in 2002. The later Rawls struggled with the problem of how society might stably survive the clash of plural sub-cultures that a liberal society - unless it is oppressively coercive - must itself foster and allow to flourish. And he separately struggled with the problem of how liberal peoples might peacefully share the planet with illiberal, but "decent" peoples elsewhere. This article shows that Rawls's two solutions do not easily mix.


Background Nigeria is faced with a high burden of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Treatment outcomes among MDR-TB patients registered across the globe have been poor, partly due to high loss-to-follow-up. To address this challenge, MDR-TB patients in Nigeria are hospitalized during the intensive-phase(IP) of treatment (first 6–8 months) and are provided with a package of care including standardized MDR-TB treatment regimen, antiretroviral therapy (ART) and cotrimoxazole prophylaxis (CPT) for HIV-infected patients, nutritional and psychosocial support. In this study, we report the end-IP treatment outcomes among them. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we reviewed the patient records of all bacteriologically-confirmed MDR-TB patients admitted for treatment between July 2010 and October 2012. Results Of 162 patients, 105(65%) were male, median age was 34 years and 28(17%) were HIV-infected; all 28 received ART and CPT. Overall, 138(85%) were alive and culture negative at the end of IP, 24(15%) died and there was no loss-to-follow-up. Mortality was related to low CD4-counts at baseline among HIV-positive patients. The median increase in body mass index among those documented to be underweight was 2.6 kg/m2 (p<0.01) and CD4-counts improved by a median of 52 cells/microL among the HIV-infected patients (p<0.01). Conclusions End-IP treatment outcomes were exceptional compared to previously published data from international cohorts, thus confirming the usefulness of a hospitalized model of care. However, less than five percent of all estimated 3600 MDR-TB patients in Nigeria were initiated on treatment during the study period. Given the expected scale-up of MDR-TB care, the hospitalized model is challenging to sustain and the national TB programme is contemplating to move to ambulatory care. Hence, we recommend using both ambulatory and hospitalized approaches, with the latter being reserved for selected high-risk groups.


A 73-year-old man was referred for therapy of a duodenal adenoma discovered incidentally for an esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) performed for evaluation of gastroesophageal reflux disease. On EGD the polyp (▶Fig. 1) measured 3 cm and was sessile and slightly elevated (Paris classification 0-IIa). Preparations were made for endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR). A solution of 3% hetastarch, normal saline, and methylene blue was injected into the submucosal layer of the distal aspect of the polyp. The distal aspect of the polyp lifted well. An attempt was made to lift the central and proximal component of the polyp, but the lift was not adequate to allow EMR. Attempts were made using a waterjet probe (ErbeJet 2; Erbe USA, Marietta, GA, USA) at high settings of 360psi (Effect 25) and then 725psi (Effect 50). Given the lack of lifting after submucosal injection, the decision was made to perform cryotherapy using the CryoBalloon (C2 CryoBalloon Focal Ablation System; Pentax Medical, Redwood City, CA, USA). This had been discussed with the patient prior to the procedure as a backup option. Two 10-second ablations were applied to the polyp (▶Fig. 2). A deep erythema of the polyp was seen, indicating effective ablation. The polyp was biopsied extensively using a jumbo biopsy forceps, and the pathological study showed low-grade dysplasia (histology immediately after cryotherapy is not affected by the cryotherapy, the effects of which occur later). The patient returned 3 months after the procedure for follow-up. At this point about 30% of the polyp remained (▶Fig. 3). Another CryoBalloon ablation treatment was applied, this time with a single 10-s ablation. Biopsies again showed low-grade dysplasia. At 6-month follow-up no polyp remained. Biopsy of the scar showed benign tissue (▶Fig. 4). E-Videos


[Summary of the book containing this chapter:] The Villa of the Papyri is a unique archaeological site and has been very influential in the field of classical studies. The papyri (the only intact library to survive from Greco-Roman antiquity) and bronze sculptures found in the villa have contributed to our knowledge of the ancient world and the villa has become for us the "ideal model" of Roman luxury villa culture.
This volume brings together papers delivered by experts in various fields addressing the cultural significance of this ancient site in its contemporary Roman context as well as its cultural reception from its discovery over two hundred and fifty years ago to the most recent excavations in the late twentieth century. They also explore the ways in which digital archaeology can assist our efforts to understand and investigate ancient sites. Topics treated include the Villa's architecture, decoration, and content (i.e., wall-paintings, sculptures, and papyri); their reception since the 18th century; and the current state of knowledge based on the recent partial excavations in the Villa, presented here in English for the first time. Furthermore, the use of digital models of the Villa that incorporate the data from the new excavations and a discussion on the ways in which such models may be used for educational and research purposes are also presented.


Among the Lophotrochozoa, centralization of the nervous system reaches an exceptional level of complexity in cephalopods, where the typical molluscan ganglia become highly developed and fuse into hierarchized lobes. It is known that ganglionic primordia initially emerge early and simultaneously during cephalopod embryogenesis but no data exist on the process of neuron differentiation in this group. We searched for members of the elav/hu family in the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis, since they are one of the first genetic markers of postmitotic neural cells. Two paralogs were identified and the expression of the most neural‐specific gene, Sof‐elav1, was characterized during embryogenesis. Sof‐elav1 is expressed in all ganglia at one time of development, which provides the first genetic map of neurogenesis in a cephalopod. Our results unexpectedly revealed that Sof‐elav1 expression is not similar and not coordinated in all the prospective ganglia. Both palliovisceral ganglia show extensive Sof‐elav1 expression soon after emergence, showing that most of their cells differentiate into neurons at an early stage. On the contrary, other ganglia, and especially both cerebral ganglia that contribute to the main parts of the brain learning centers, show a late extensive Sof‐elav1 expression. These delayed expressions in ganglia suggest that most ganglionic cells retain their proliferative capacities and postpone differentiation. In other molluscs, where a larval nervous system predates the development of the definitive adult nervous system, cerebral ganglia are among the first to mature. Thus, such a difference may constitute a cue in understanding the peculiar brain evolution in cephalopods. J. Comp. Neurol. 521:1482–1496, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Cotton, Gossypium spp., fibers are produced primarily by two species, G. hirsutum L., upland, and G. barbadense L., pima or American Egyptian, which also is referred to as Extra Long Staple (ELS) because the fibers produced are longer, stronger, and finer than those produced by upland. Breeders have sought to introgress the ELS trait from G. barbadense into upland with limited success. The Cotton Improvement Laboratory, Texas A&M University AgriLife Research, has developed ELS upland lines through intraspecific upland crosses and subsequent pedigree selection. The purpose of this study was to determine (1) High Volume Instrument (HVI) and the Advanced Fiber Information System (AFIS) fiber properties of eight of these TAM ELS upland strains and (2) spinning performance compared with 'FiberMax 832 LL' (FM 832), a modern, high-quality, upland cultivar. Eight ELS upland lines, along with FM 832, were grown at College Station and Weslaco, TX during 2006 and 2007. Picker-harvested seed cotton was ginned on a laboratory saw gin and the lint was evaluated by HVI and AFIS for fiber quality parameters at the Texas Tech University Fiber and BioPolymer Research Institute. Yarn was produced from each genotype through a minispinning protocol. All ELS upland lines exhibited longer (p < 0.01) HVI and AFIS length parameters with all other fiber properties not different than FM 832. All ELS lines produced stronger carded 11.8 tex ring-spun yarns than FM 832 with better yarn elongation and yarn hairiness. These ELS lines should be valuable parental material in breeding for improved fiber quality. T


How is it that in Russia, unlike in other countries, during the coronavirus pandemic the total mortality increased by a record amount and the income and consumption of the population decreased to the greatest extent? The point is that the crisis, caused by the coronavirus pandemic, is completely different from previous ones. It highlights the dilemma: should we use forces and means to prevent an economic recession with lower costs for anti-crisis measures, or focus on saving people's lives while minimizing additional mortality and maintaining real incomes of the population? Each country, depending on objectives, prevailing conditions and opportunities, chooses its "golden mean". In many cases such choice is not fully conscious, since it's not possible to forecast with any certainty even over the near term. Decisions have to be taken up along the way, based on the situation and assessing the probability of certain events, including in view of the other countries' experience in combating the pandemic


Summary Objectives An online workplace-based assessment tool, the Intercollegiate Surgical Curriculum Programme (ISCP), has become mandatory for all British surgical trainees appointed since August 2007. A compulsory £125 annual trainee fee has also been introduced to fund its running costs. The study sought to evaluate user satisfaction with the ISCP. Design and setting A total of 539 users across all surgical specialties (including 122 surgeons acting as assessors) were surveyed in late 2008 by online questionnaire regarding their experiences with the ISCP. Results Sixty-seven percent had used the tool for at least one year. It was rated above average by only 6% for its registration process and only 11% for recording meetings and objectives. Forty-nine percent described its online assessments as poor or very poor, only 9% considering them good or very good. Seventy-nine percent rated the website's user friendliness as average or worse, as did 72% its peer-assessment tool and 61% its logbook of procedures. Seventy-six percent of respondents had carried out paper assessments due to difficulties using the website. Six percent stated that the ISCP had impacted negatively on their training opportunities, 41% reporting a negative impact overall upon their training; only 6% reported a positive impact. Ninety-four percent did not consider the trainee fee good value, only 2% believing it should be paid by the trainee. Conclusions The performance of the ISCP leaves large numbers of British surgeons unsatisfied. Its assessments lack appropriate evidence of validity and its introduction has been problematic. With reducing training hours, the increased online bureaucratic burden exacerbates low morale of trainees and trainers, adversely impacting potentially upon both competency and productivity.


In this research, global positioning system (GPS) technology was used to track the velocity and position of ferry vessels during berthing maneuvers, and vessel characteristics that affect berthing maneuvers were reviewed. Ferry vessels were tracked for 24 berthing maneuvers and five complete crossings. The research team found that the plot of vessel speed vs. distance from the landing structure was consistent and that the crews used a consistent sequence of throttle settings as they approached the berth. Changes of slope in a speed vs. distance plot were correlated to changes in throttle setting. Vessels used a variety of approach paths when they were more than 1,000 ft from the landing; however, the paths converged when the vessels were within 500 ft of the landing. Records of sea trials provided information on vessel turning and stopping ability. On the basis of the findings, a velocity vs. distance envelope was developed for use as ferry landing design criteria. The report recommends that GPS tracking could become a regular part of the ferry terminal design procedure and that future vessel tracking be conducted during sea trials and difficult landing situations.


This working paper presents findings from analyses of Russian nanotechnology outputs in publications and patents focusing on developments over the period 1990 through to 2012. The investigation draws on bibliometric datasets of scientific journal publications and patents and on available secondary English-language and Russian sources.The document provides both an overview and detailed analyses of nanotechnology research and innovation in Russia. The examination of publications highlights sectoral trends, leading authors and organizations, and acknowledgements to funding sources. The analysis of patents adds further evidence about patterns of invention and ownership of intellectual property emanating from research and development in Russian nanotechnology.The analyses in this paper have been undertaken to provide an information base for further research on the current state and trajectory of nanotechnology in Russia and on the broader development of Russia's innovation system. Comparisons with Chinese publication and patent outputs can be seen in a parallel report on Nanotechnology Research and Innovation in China (2014).


Next generation wireless systems are being designed to provide ubiquitous broadband link access to information infrastructure. Diversity techniques play a vital role in supporting such high speed connections over radio channels by mitigating the detrimental effects of multiuser interference and multipath fading. Equal gain combining (EGC) diversity receiver is of practical interest because of its reduced complexity relative to optimum maximal ratio combining scheme while achieving near-optimal performance. Despite this, the literature on EGC receiver performance is meager owing to difficulty in deriving the probability density function of the diversity combiner output. This problem is further compounded when the diversity paths are correlated. Since spatial, pattern, or polarization diversity implementations at a mobile handset are usually limited to a small diversity order with closely spaced antenna elements (owing to cost and ergonomic constraints), any performance analysis must be revamped to account for the effects of branch correlation between the combined signals. This thesis presents a powerful characteristic function method for evaluating the performance of a two-branch EGC receiver in Nakagami-m channels with nonindependent and non-identical fading statistics. The proposed framework facilitates efficient error probability analysis for a broad range of modulation/detection schemes in a unified manner. The thesis also examines the efficacy of an average diversity combiner in slotted direct sequence spread-spectrum access packet radio networks. A two-dimensional EGC diversity combining scheme is introduced, wherein a corrupted packet is retained and combined with its retransmission at the bit level to produce a more reliable packet. The mathematical analysis of the average diversity combiner presented in this thesis is sufficiently general to handle generalized fading channel models with independent fading statistics for a myriad of digital modulation schemes.


The komatiite–dunite-hosted Ni sulphide deposit at MKD5 (Mt Keith) has a complex regolith consisting of a residual profile (>75 m depth), partly collapsed towards the top, overlain by 40 m of exotic sediments. The weathered komatiites are composed predominantly of degraded serpentine, neo-formed hydrated Mg-silicates, carbonates, silica and Fe oxides. Magnesium concentrations decrease upwards through the lower regolith, whereas those of Fe and Si increase, reflecting degradation of Mg-bearing minerals. A sharp decline of Mg within the profile marks the Mg discontinuity, separating Mg-saprolite from the overlying Fe saprolite. The Fe saprolite, dominated by Fe oxides and silica, has pseudo-sedimentary structures indicating partial collapse of the profile. At the unconformity with the sediments, eluviation, mixing and churning have produced zones with chemical and mineralogical characteristics of the underlying, overlying and adjacent lithologies. Nickel, Co, Mn, Cr and PGE are dominantly hosted by secondary Fe oxides in the regolith, but above the Mg-discontinuity, Ni and Co are locally enriched by co-precipitation with Mn oxides. The oxidation potential, controlled by ferrolysis, ranges from −0.4 to +0.2 volts, and the pH, buffered by bicarbonate ion, irrespective of the presence of sulphides, decreases from 9.5 to 6.0 up through the profile. Copper is not significantly mobile under such conditions and precipitates as inert native metal, commonly spatially associated with Fe oxides. Separation of Ni and Cu occurs in the upper saprolite and pedolith, because metallic Cu (±Pd) is retained and residually concentrated in collapsed Fe saprolite, whereas Ni, adsorbed to goethite, is redissolved and reprecipitated below the Mg-discontinuity. High Ni concentrations in the regolith cannot alone be used to distinguish between Ni sulphide mineralized (NiS) and barren komatiitic protoliths. The strong correlation between chalcophile elements evident in mineralized protolith is lost with the oxidation of sulphides, and Ni derived from sulphides is indistinguishable from that derived from silicates. Ultramafic-derived regolith materials having Ni/Cu ratios of 7–19 and >19 may indicate the presence of massive and disseminated sulphides, respectively. The ratio at MKD5 is 60. These relationships may be distorted by preferential leaching, or by the influx of either element from wall-rocks. High concentrations of PGE, especially Pt, Pd and Ru, may also indicate mineralized protolith. However, the very low secondary mobility of PGE and Cu greatly restricts target size. Larger targets are given by Ni/Cr and Cu/Zn ratios which, either singly or multiplied together, can be used to identify mineralized komatiitic sequences and provide vectors towards ore. Their value is diminished if the ore and host sequence are decoupled during emplacement.


Passing for white, a phenomenon that once captivated writers as diverse as Charles Chesnutt, Sinclair Lewis, Nella Larsen, and Mark Twain, no longer seems to engage contemporary novelists. The long list of authors from the first half of the twentieth century, which includes canonical writers like William Faulkner and forgotten stars like Edna Ferber, is hardly balanced by the short list of contemporary writers who have addressed this figure of racial ambiguity. In considering the relative disappearance of the passing figure from contemporary literature, this essay begins with neither a clear and substantial presence nor a complete absence of passing in the work of one of our most important novelists, Toni Morrison. [1] In each of her seven novels and in her sole short story, Toni Morrison invokes the passing myth, sometimes in only one or two paragraphs and often with indirection. The Bluest Eye, for example, features a dark-skinned child who cannot possibly pass for white, yet Pecola ignores biology and becomes (if only to herself) a blue-eyed Shirley Temple. Although some might consider Pecola's delusion a weak or perhaps specious representation of passing for white, The Bluest Eye artfully reinforces its interest in racial passing by alluding to Peola, the passing figure in Imitation of Life. This intertextual play effectively evokes the myth without actually representing the phenomenon of passing, and in this way Morrison decenters and deforms the traditional passing figure. Why? It is my hope that this overview, although focused on Morrison, will be suggestive of larger shifts in culture, politics, and aesthetics. Why, for example, has the passing figure, after holding a central place in the imaginations of early-twentieth-century writers, been consigned to the margins of late-twentieth-century novels concerned with race? Why did Nella Larsen and Langston Hughes address the subject directly, even entitling works Passing and "Who's Passing for Who?" while Morrison approaches the subject indirectly and often in a subplot or through an allusion? Are there certain stories that are considered embarrassing, passe, or even dangerous? Are there stories, furthermore, that simply cannot be told or, rather, cannot be told simply? Perhaps we are too far from what F. James Davis has called the "peak years for passing ... probably from 1880 to 1925." Or perhaps these passing narratives, which frequently move from the desire for white privilege to the tortures of racial denial, seem treasonous or even unimaginable in a post-1960s, post-Black Power world. If there are social forces steering creative writers away from this topic, it becomes especially important to look at the survival, albeit in altered form, of the theme. In the last twenty years, for example, there has been an explosion of literary theory and criticism, biography and autobiography, history and sociology, all devoted to the theme and phenomenon of passing for white. In 1986, Deborah McDowell's provocative introduction to Nella Larsen's Passing was instrumental in securing Larsen new readers as well as sparking critical interest in the rich complexity of passing. Since McDowell's introduction, scholars as diverse as Judith Butler, Werner Sollors, and Henry Louis Gates have addressed this subject from their various points of view, adding to our understanding of passing as a literary device, a philosophical conundrum, and a historical phenomenon. [2] Gayle Wald and a host of other young scholars have first books devoted to theoretical and critical studies of passing. [3] Passing, it should be noted, represents a quickly evolving field of study with a complex history that has only begun to be written. [4] In addition to the scholarly books on passing, there have been many life-stories written for popular audiences. Life on the Color Line, for example, is one of several memoirs about passing that can claim bestseller status, and Shirlee Haizlipp's The Sweeter the Juice captured the attention of Oprah Winfrey and her audiences in 1995, perhaps inspiring other biographies and essay collections. …


STUDY OBJECTIVES
Sleep behaviors are related to brain structure and function, but the impact of long-term changes in sleep timing on brain health has not been clearly addressed. The purpose of this study was to examine the association of longitudinal changes in sleep timing from middle to late-life with gray matter volume (GMV), an important marker of brain aging.

METHODS
We enrolled 1798 adults (aged 49-82 years, men 54.6%) who underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) between 2011 and 2014. Midsleep time (MST) on free days corrected for sleep debt on workdays was adopted as a marker of sleep timing. Data on MST were available at the time of MRI assessment and at examinations that were given 9 years earlier (2003-2004). Longitudinal changes in MST over the 9-year period were derived and categorized into quartiles. Subjects in quartile 1 were defined as "advancers" (MST advanced ≥1 hour) while those in quartile 4 were defined as "delayers" (MST delayed ≥0.2 hours). Quartiles 2-3 defined a reference group (MST change was considered modest). The relationship of GMV with MST changes over 9 years was investigated.

RESULTS
Nine-year change in MST were significantly associated with GMV. Compared to the reference group, advancers had smaller GMVs in the frontal and temporal regions. A delay in MST was also associated with smaller cerebellar GMV.

CONCLUSIONS
In middle-to-late adulthood, the direction of change in MST is associated with GMV. While advancers and delayers in MST tend to present lower GMV, associations appear to differ across brain regions.


As populations age, the numbers of carers overall and numbers of carers from minority ethnic groups in particular are rising. Evidence suggests that carers from all sections of the community and particularly carers from minority groups often fail to access care services. This may relate to barriers in accessing services and service dissatisfaction. The aim of this systematic review was to identify and summarise minority ethnic carers' perceptions of barriers to accessing community social care services and their satisfaction with these services if accessed. The following databases were searched from their start until July 2013: Social Care Online, Social Policy and Research, Scopus, PsychINFO, HMIC, ASSIA, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL Plus and AMED. Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Most investigated either barriers to access or satisfaction levels, although three explored both. Only 4 studies investigated minority ethnic carers' satisfaction with social care, although 12 studies reported perceived barriers to accessing services. Few studies compared minority ethnic carers' perceptions with majority ethnic groups, making it difficult to identify issues specific to minority groups. Most barriers described were potentially relevant to all carers, irrespective of ethnic group. They included attitudinal barriers such as not wanting to involve outsiders or not seeing the need for services and practical barriers such as low awareness of services and service availability. Issues specific to minority ethnic groups included language barriers and concerns about services' cultural or religious appropriateness. Studies investigating satisfaction with services reported a mixture of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Barriers common to all groups should not be underestimated and a better understanding of the relationship between perceived barriers to accessing services and dissatisfaction with services is needed before the experiences of all carers can be improved.


This contribution discusses the effects of new experiments of citizen participation for democratic legitimacy. Following Scharf's distinction between input-oriented and output-oriented legitimacy, it is argued that both types of legitimacy pose different demands on citizen involvement. Using insights from the literature on deliberative democracy, two criteria are formulated to obtain both types of legitimacy. Input-oriented legitimacy derives from the extent to which the participative process meets the criterion of fairness, whereas a high level of competence is needed to achieve legitimacy on the output side. The question is to what extent these two criteria of fairness and competence can be realised simultaneously. It is argued that both criteria are rather conflictual, as a high level of fairness can only be achieved at the expense of the level of competence. Furthermore it is a rather naive ideal to strive for participative processes that completely live up to the principle of fairness. Therefore new forms of citizen participation should primarily focus on the criterion of competence. In this way citizen involvement may indeed contribute to achieve legitimacy on the output side.


NGC 147 and NGC 185 are two of the most massive satellites of the Andromeda galaxy (M 31). Close together in the sky, of similar mass and morphological type dE, they possess different amounts of interstellar gas and tidal distortion. The question therefore is, how do their histories compare? Here we present the first reconstruction of the star formation histories of NGC 147 and NGC 185 using long-period variable stars. These represent the final phase of evolution of low- and intermediate-mass stars at the asymptotic giant branch, when their luminosity is related to their birth mass. Combining near-infrared photometry with stellar evolution models, we construct the mass function and hence the star formation history. For NGC 185 we found that the main epoch of star formation occurred 8.3 Gyr ago, followed by a much lower, but relatively constant star formation rate. In the case of NGC 147, the star formation rate peaked only 7 Gyr ago, staying intense until ~ 3 Gyr ago, but no star formation has occurred for at least 300 Myr. Despite their similar masses, NGC 147 has evolved more slowly than NGC 185 initially, but more dramatically in more recent times. This is corroborated by the strong tidal distortions of NGC 147 and the presence of gas in the centre of NGC 185.


Modern CNN-based object detectors assign anchors for ground-truth objects under the restriction of object-anchor Intersection-over-Unit (IoU). In this study, we propose a learning-to-match approach to break IoU restriction, allowing objects to match anchors in a flexible manner. Our approach, referred to as FreeAnchor, updates hand-crafted anchor assignment to "free" anchor matching by formulating detector training as a maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) procedure. FreeAnchor targets at learning features which best explain a class of objects in terms of both classification and localization. FreeAnchor is implemented by optimizing detection customized likelihood and can be fused with CNN-based detectors in a plug-and-play manner. Experiments on MS-COCO demonstrate that FreeAnchor consistently outperforms the counterparts with significant margins.


Abstract Palaeozoic lithic palaeoclimatic data were plotted at the series or stage level for Laurentia (North America) and Euramerica. Their distribution was used to infer the extent of humid and arid climatic belts across the continent for specified time intervals. Climatic data are potentially useful for constraining palaeolatitudes for times when zonal atmospheric circulation remains the dominant pattern. Arid lithic indicators (evaporites, carbonate oolite) and humid indicators (coal, bauxite) were constrained to provide the best fit of these data into a simple zonal climatic pattern delineating subtropical arid belts and equatorial and/or temperate humid belts, respectively. An attempt was made to minimize occurrences of arid indicators in interpreted equatorial regions to maximize a zonal fit. Climatic belts can be arranged in a temporally consistent zonal climatic scheme for much of the Palaeozoic, but monsoonal and orographic effects apparently disrupted the general zonal pattern during portions of the Late Palaeozoic. The interpreted climatic patterns suggest progressive southward movement of Laurentia during the Cambrian through Early Devonian followed by general northward drift of Euramerica during the Middle Devonian through Permian. Lithic palaeoclimatic data provide an independent means to test palaeolatitudes interpreted from palaeomagnetic data. There is general agreement between palaeoclimatic and palaeomagnetic interpretations, but some discrepancies, particularly for the Devonian and Early Carboniferous, warrant further attention.


MTA appears to be a valid option for apexification with its main advantage being, the speed at which the treatment can be completed. A major problem in performing endodontics in immature teeth with necrotic pulp and wide open apices is obtaining an optimal seal of the root-canal system. Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA), has been proposed as a potential material to create an apical plug at the end of the root-canal system, thus preventing the extrusion of filling materials.


Science fiction films, from the original Frankenstein and The Fly to Blade Runner and The Terminator, traditionally have been filled with aliens, spaceships, androids, cyborgs, and all sorts of robotic creatures along with their various creators. The popular appeal of these characters is undeniable, but what is the meaning of this generation of creatures? What is the relationship of mad scientist to subject, of human to android, of creature to creator? Androids, Humanoids, and Other Folklore Monsters is a profound investigation of this popular cultural form. Starting his discussion with the possible source of these creatures, anthropologist and writer Per Schelde identifies the origin of these critters in the folklore of past generations. Continuing in the tradition of ancient folklore, contends Schelde, science fiction film is a fictional account of the ongoing battle between nature and culture. With the advance of science, the trolls, dwarves, pixies, nixies, and huldres that represented the unknown natural forces of the world were virtually killed off by ever-increasing knowledge and technology. The natural forces of the past that provided a threat to humans were replaced by the danger of unknown scientific experiments and disasters, as represented by their offspring: science fiction monsters. As the development of genetics, biomedical engineering, and artificial intelligence blur the lines between human and machine in the real world, thus invading the natural landscape with the products of man's techno-culture, the representation of this development poses interesting questions. As Per Schelde shows, it becomes increasingly difficult in science fiction film to define the humans from their creations, and thus increasingly difficult to identify the monster. Unlike science fiction literature, science fiction film has until now been largely neglected as a genre worthy of study and scholarship. Androids, Humanoids, and Other Folklore Monsters explores science fiction (sf) film as the modern incarnation of folklore, emblematic of the struggle between nature and culture--but with a new twist. Schelde explains how, as science conquered the forests and mountains of the wild, the mythic creatures of these realms--trolls, elves, and ogres--were relegated to cartoons and children's stories. Technology and outer space came to represent the modern wild, and this new unknown came alive in the popular imagination with the embodiments of our fears of that unknown: androids, cyborgs, genetics, and artificial intelligence gone awry. Implicit in all of these is a fear, and an indictment, of the power of science to invade our minds and bodies, replacing the individual soul with a mechanical, machine-made one. Focusing his analysis on sixty-five popular films, from Frankenstein and Metropolis to Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Terminator, and Blade Runner, Per Schelde brings his command of traditional folklore to this serious but eminently readable look at SF movies, decoding their curious and often terrifying images as expressions of modern man's angst in the face of a rapidly advancing culture he cannot control. Anyone with an interest in popular culture, folklore, film studies, or science fiction will enjoy this original and comprehensive study.


Skeletal muscle contractions are known to evoke pressor and cardioaccelerator responses in part by stimulating P2X3 receptors found on the peripheral endings of afferents. In diabetic patients, this pressor response is exaggerated. What is currently not known is whether P2X3 receptors play a role in evoking this exaggerated response. PURPOSE: The purpose of this project was to quantify P2X3 receptors in the L4 and L5 dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons in both healthy and type 1 diabetic rats using western blot analysis. METHODS: We injected 50 mg/kg streptozotocin (STZ) or the vehicle (CTL) i.p in fasted female and male Sprague Dawley rats and then waited at least 7 days for the rats to become diabetic. We then performed a laminectomy in the anesthetized rats to expose the spinal cord and roots. Using a dissecting microscope, we removed the L4 and L5 DRG from the spinal column. The DRG are the cell bodies of the peripheral afferents found in the hindlimb musculature. The DRG were placed in HBSS (is this buffer?) and stored at -80°C until analysis. For quantification, samples were lysed and proteins were isolated using the NucleoSpin RNA/Protein Kit (Macherey-Nagel, Bethlehem, PA, USA). A Qubit 3.0 Fluorometer was used to quantify the protein concentration of each sample so that equal protein concentrations could then be loaded onto a Bolt Bis-Tris (4-12%) gel. Following electrophoresis, the proteins were transferred to a membrane before being probed with a rabbit polyclonal P2X3 antibody (Alomone Labs), followed by an anti-rabbit secondary antibody conjugated to alkaline phosphatase (Life Technologies). The membrane was then exposed using a ChemiDoc XRS and the results analyzed using BioRad's Quantity One imaging software. RESULTS: We were able to detect P2X3 receptor proteins. When compared with a molecular weight ladder, P2X3 receptor proteins were 54kDa, which is similar to the molecular weight of P2X3 receptors quantified in other studies. CONCLUSION: This method of quantifying P2X3 receptors in DRG neurons allows for a comparison between non-diabetic and diabetic rats. Further analyses are required to determine whether the quantity of P2X3 receptors in L4 and L5 DRG neurons is different in diabetic rats compared to non-diabetic rats.


[1] Previous studies have tested the long-term coupling between air and terrestrial subsurface temperatures working under the assumption that linear trends in surface air temperature should be equal to those measured at depth within the subsurface. A one-dimensional model of heat conduction is used to show that surface trends are attenuated as a function of depth within conductive media on time scales of decades to centuries, therefore invalidating the above assumption given practical observational constraints. The model is forced with synthetic linear temperature trends as the time-varying upper boundary condition; synthetic trends are either noise free or include additions of Gaussian noise at the annual time scale. It is shown that over a 1000 year period, propagating surface trends are progressively damped with depth in both noise-free and noise-added scenarios. Over shorter intervals, the relationship between surface and subsurface trends is more variable and is strongly impacted by annual variability (i.e., noise). Using output from the FOR1 millennial simulation of the GKSS ECHO-G General Circulation Model as a more realistic surface forcing function for the conductive model, it is again demonstrated that surface trends are damped as a function of depth within the subsurface. Observational air and subsurface temperature data collected over 100 years in Armagh, Ireland, and 29 years in Fargo, North Dakota, are also analyzed and shown to have subsurface temperature trends that are not equal to the surface trend. While these conductive effects are correctly accounted for in inversions of borehole temperature profiles in paleoclimatic studies, they have not been considered in studies seeking to evaluate the long-term coupling between air and subsurface temperatures by comparing trends in their measured time series. The presented results suggest that these effects must be considered and that a demonstrated trend equivalency in air and subsurface temperatures is inconclusive regarding their long-term tracking.


Background: TB infection remains one of the major health problems in Indonesia. While stem cells have been developed as new hope and challenge on medical aspect in treatments of various disease. Mesenchymal stem cells applications in treating tuberculous infections remain controversial. Objectives: To evaluate interactions between mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in one co-culture growth. Methods: This study is an experimental in vitro study, where MTB H37Rv strain and BMSCs were co-cultured in the single medium. MTB with 0.5 McFarland and 5000 cells/cm of MSCs were co-cultured in RPMI medium, MTB 0.5 McFarland in RPMI and 5000 cells/cm MSCs in RPMI are being our control groups. Acid-fast staining bacilli (AFB), PCR, TB culture were evaluated between the 3 groups on day 3, day 7, and day 9 of observation. Result: AFB, PCR, and TB culture were found positive (+) in both TB control group and also the co-culture group (+) on day 3, day 7, and day 9. While the AFB, PCR, and TB culture in MSCs control group were found negative (-) on day 3, day 7, and day 9. Cyclus threshold PCR values between co-culture group and control groups were not significantly different (p>0.05). Viable MSCs are hardly found in co-culture group compared with MSCs control group. The difference was significant between co-culture group and MSCs control group. (p<0.05). Conclusion: In this co-culture study, MSCs do not affect MTB growth. Instead, there were suppression of Mesenchymal Stem Cells growth in this co-culture study.


Ecological restoration through exclosure establishment has become an increasingly important approach to reversing degraded ecosystems in rangelands worldwide. The present study was conducted in northwestern Ethiopia where policy programs are aiming to restore degraded lands. Changes in soil properties following establishing exclosures on communal grazing lands were investigated. A space‐for‐time substitution approach was used to monitor changes in soil properties after conversion of communal grazing lands to exclosures with ages of establishment ranging from 1 to 7 years. Significant differences in soil pH, exchangeable cations, cation exchange capacity, soil moisture content and bulk density were observed within exclosures and between exclosures and communal grazing land. Communal grazing land displayed significantly higher soil total nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium compared with exclosures. Exclosures did not display significantly higher soil organic matter content when compared with the communal grazing land. The results confirm that more than 7 years after the establishment of exclosures is required to detect significant improvements in most of the investigated soil properties. Prohibition of the practice of grass harvesting during the first 3 to 5 years following the establishment of exclosure, and decreasing the amount of grass harvest with exclosure age could support to increase easily decomposable organic inputs to the soil and improve soil properties in relatively short period of time. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


In the current era of electronic domination of human experience, be it via cell phone and/or computer addiction, or the ubiquitous television, actual participation in music- making is less and less common for the average person, child or adult. Passive participation through listening is most often cited by people as their major experience with music in their lives. When asked if listening has therapeutic effects, it is rare for anyone to respond in the negative. Likewise, for performers/active participants in music- making, be it solitary or as part of a group, invariably an enhanced sense of well-being from the act of making music is reported. This paper addresses therapeutic aspects of musical participation (singing, clapping, playing an instrument, dancing, listening) by providing a historical overview (12th c to present) of attitudes toward music's therapeutic effects. It argues that music exists through the interaction of our biological capacity to make music with our cultural circumstances. How individuals benefit in all aspects their being – physical, mental and emotional – from engaging in the act of making music is illustrated with examples from field research in southern Africa. Finally implications for Music Education are explored which emphasize how more comprehensive integration of music into the curriculum can serve as an antidote to the increasing isolation and alienation of modern life.


One of the most high-profile and glamorous speech situations to occur in many parliamentary democracies around the world is the spectacle of Question Time. Whereas most of what goes on in parliament may be drab, perfunctory and arcane, Question Time is often dramatic, adversarial, and highly publicised. It is, generally, the only parliamentary procedure to be televised and stands out in the public mind as one of the primary tests of a politicians ability to perform. But how might this performance be judged? Strangely, there has been little systematic linguistic research into the characteristic ways in which this political theatre is stage-managed by its actors. Using the Australian federal parliament as a case study, this paper attempts to elucidate some of the patterns that emerge from a close analysis of all opposition questions directed to government members over a weeks sitting of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Utilising the tools of systemic functional grammar, recurring discourse structures are identified as standard techniques of formal interrogation between political parties.


Format

Candidates are asked to choose the best answer from the five possible answers. This best of five format is used in many medical examinations; however, the questions are not intended to be representative of those used in the MRCP(UK) Part 1 or Part 2 Written Examinations.

The answering


Summary: Objective: Despite the growing acknowledgement of the value of engaging patients in their health care, the term "patient engagement" is at risk of becoming nothing more than a "hot buzz phrase," as it lacks a shared definition and, consequently, shared guidelines for interventions. The aim of this study is to identify the main conceptualizations associated with the expression "patient engagement" within the current academic literature. In particular we highlight different disciplinary points of view and changes in its conceptualizations across the last 12 years. Methods: Five electronic databases were searched from 2002 to 2013 with no language restrictions (included MEDLINE; PsychINFO; CINAHL;Web of Science; and SCOPUS). A qualitative software-based thematic analysis was performed on papers dealing with the concept of patient engagement retrieved by a systematic review of the literature. Key Findings: Searches yielded 1020 articles, of which 259 studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The conceptualization of patient engagement is still vague and has changed over time, thus offering a fragmented and partial vision of this phenomenon. The current literature focuses alternatively on different and singular aspects of the patient engagement phenomenon while missing the whole picture of the elements that may hinder or facilitate patient engagement. Conclusions: These results underline the urgency for a deeper understanding of what patient engagement means in order to develop knowledge useful for innovation both in clinical practice and health policy agendas.


Background Proposed payment reforms in the US healthcare system would hold providers accountable for the care delivered to an assigned patient population. Annual hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) tests are recommended for all diabetics, but some patient populations may face barriers to high quality healthcare that are beyond providers' control. The magnitude of fine-grained variations in care for diabetic Medicare beneficiaries, and their associations with local population characteristics, are unknown. Methods HbA1c tests were recorded for 480,745 diabetic Medicare beneficiaries. Spatial analysis was used to create ZIP code-level estimated testing rates. Associations of testing rates with local population characteristics that are outside the control of providers – population density, the percent African American, with less than a high school education, or living in poverty – were assessed. Results In 2009, 83.3% of diabetic Medicare beneficiaries received HbA1c tests. Estimated ZIP code-level rates ranged from 71.0% in the lowest decile to 93.1% in the highest. With each 10% increase in the percent of the population that was African American, associated HbA1c testing rates were 0.24% lower (95% CI −0.32–−0.17); for identical increases in the percent with less than a high school education or the percent living in poverty, testing rates were 0.70% lower (−0.95–−0.46) and 1.6% lower (−1.8–−1.4), respectively. Testing rates were lowest in the least and most densely populated ZIP codes. Population characteristics explained 5% of testing rate variations. Conclusions HbA1c testing rates are associated with population characteristics, but these characteristics fail to explain the vast majority of variations. Consequently, even complete risk-adjustment may have little impact on some process of care quality measures; much of the ZIP code-related variations in testing rates likely result from provider-based differences and idiosyncratic local factors not related to poverty, education, or race.


Orthonormal bases of compactly supported wavelet bases correspond to subband coding schemes with exact reconstruction in which the analysis and synthesis filters coincide. We show here that under fairly general conditions, exact reconstruction schemes with synthesis filters different from the analysis filters give rise: to two dual Riesz bases of compactly supported wavelets. We give necessary and sufficient conditions for biorthogonality of the corresponding scaling functions, and we present a sufficient condition for the decay of their Fourier transforms. We study the regularity of these biorthogonal bases. We provide several families of examples, all symmetric (corresponding to "linear phase" filters). In particular we can construct symmetric biorthogonal wavelet bases with arbitrarily high preassigned regularity; we also show how to construct symmetric biorthogonal wavelet bases "close" to a (nonsymmetric) orthonormal basis.


Structured Prediction Energy Networks (SPENs) are a simple, yet expressive family of structured prediction models (Belanger and McCallum, 2016). An energy function over candidate structured outputs is given by a deep network, and predictions are formed by gradient-based optimization. This paper presents end-to-end learning for SPENs, where the energy function is discriminatively trained by back-propagating through gradient-based prediction. In our experience, the approach is substantially more accurate than the structured SVM method of Belanger and McCallum (2016), as it allows us to use more sophisticated non-convex energies. We provide a collection of techniques for improving the speed, accuracy, and memory requirements of end-to-end SPENs, and demonstrate the power of our method on 7-Scenes image denoising and CoNLL-2005 semantic role labeling tasks. In both, inexact minimization of non-convex SPEN energies is superior to baseline methods that use simplistic energy functions that can be minimized exactly.


Luminescence glass is a potential candidate for the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) applications. Here, we study the structural and optical properties of the Eu-, Tb-, and Dy-doped oxyfluoride silicate glasses for LEDs by means of X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence spectra, Commission Internationale de L'Eclairage (CIE) chromaticity coordinates, and correlated color temperatures (CCTs). The results show that the white light emission can be achieved in Eu/Tb/Dy codoped oxyfluoride silicate glasses under excitation by near-ultraviolet light due to the simultaneous generation of blue, green, yellow, and red-light wavelengths from Tb, Dy, and Eu ions. The optical performances can be tuned by varying the glass composition and excitation wavelength. Furthermore, we observed a remarkable emission spectral change for the Tb 3+ single-doped oxyfluoride silicate glasses. The 5 D3 emission of Tb 3+ can be suppressed by introducing B2O3 into the glass. The conversion of Eu 3+ to Eu 2+ takes place in Eu single-doped oxyfluoride aluminosilicate glasses. The creation of CaF2 crystals enhances the conversion efficiency. In addition, energy transfers from Dy 3+ to Tb 3+ and Tb 3+ to Eu 3+ ions occurred in Eu/Tb/Dy codoped glasses, which can be confirmed by analyzing fluorescence spectra and energy level diagrams.


Recent management research imports rhetorical scholarship into the study of organizations. Although this cross-disciplinarity is heuristically promising, it presents significant challenges. This article interrogates management's use of rhetoric, contrasting it with communication studies. Five themes from management research identify how rhetoric is used as an organizational hermeneutic: The article demonstrates that management research conceptualizes rhetoric as a theory and as an action; as the substance that maintains and/or challenges organizational order; as being constitutive of individual and organizational identity; as a managerial strategy for persuading followers; and as a framework for narrative and rational organizational discourses. The authors argue that organizational researchers who study rhetoric characterize persuasive strategies as managers' most important actions.


A floodplain fisheries survey was conducted out at two sites (Binh Long and Phu Thanh) in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam during the monsoon of 1992. The study found a minimum yield of 80 kg/ha/year at Binh Long and a minimum yield of 42 kg/ha/year at Phu Thanh, with an average of 61 kg/ha/year. At Binh Long more than 50% of the catch belonged to the genus Cyprinidae including Cirrhinus jullieni (Sauvage 1878), Puntioplites proctozysron (Bleeker 1865) and Paralaubuca spp. At Phu Thanh crabs (Somaniathelphusa sinensis) and the snakehead (Ophiocephalus striatus, Bloch 1792), dominated the catch. The low yield estimated for the Phu Thanh site may be the result of low water pH, as this floodplain is located on moderate to severe acid sulphate soils which were disturbed following the modification of the hydrological regime during the last decade.


Tropical countries are rich in lateritic soil, a naturally available raw material for building construction. But its potential in block making is not yet satisfactorily explored. This paper focuses on an experimental investigation for improvising stabilized lateritic blocks (SLB) with coir cutting wastes from coir industry as reinforcing elements. Lateritic soil used in this study showed a higher percentage of clay content. Hence it was pre-stabilized with sand and cement. Blocks were prepared by stabilizing it further with waste fibrous additives and tested for strength and durability. Considerable improvement in strength (compressive strength @19% and tensile strength @ 9%) and durability characteristics were exhibited by the new fiber reinforced lateritic blocks (FRLB) with fiber content of 0.5%. These blocks can be successfully proposed for load bearing construction and as well as for earthquake resistant structures


The article focuses on 'social context' research in the area of science communication. It further proposes to take social context as a research perspective and analysis methodology to tackle the issue of strategic planning in science communication. The survey of journals reveals that the number of papers published on the social context of science communication is far limited compared to other issues that have been dealt with by the scholars working in this area. The article makes a case for conducting deeper research on definition and description of contextual-science-communication. There is sufficient literature available on comparative studies in science communication and public understanding of science, however since most of the scholars have not taken 'social context' into account, it provides limited understanding of reality across cultures.


During the investigation of several notable disasters (e.g., 1986 Chernobyl nuclear re-lease, Continental Express Flight 2574 crash in 1991), the lack of positive corporate safety culture was identified as a major contributing factor to these incidents (IAEA, 1986, as cited in Cox & Flin, 1998; NTSB/AAR-92/04 1992, p. 54, as cited by Meshkati, 1997). For example, as pointed out by National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), "the failure of Continental Express management to establish a corporate culture which encouraged and enforced adherence to approved maintenance and quality assurance procedures" was a potential cause of the crash (NTSB/AAR-92/04 1992, p. 54, as cited by Meshkati, 1997). Since then, safety culture assessment has been frequently used to identify root causes of system failures or incidents (Cox & Flin, 1998; Gordon, Flin, Mearns, et al., 1996; Pidgeon, 1998; Wilpert, 2000). Accordingly, building a positive corporate safety culture has been an interest in nu-clear energy, offshore and other high-risk industries to improve safety awareness and prevent incidents (Cox & Cheyne, 2000; Fleming, 1999; INSAG, 1999). Construction is well known as a high-risk field. According to Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, 2011), in 2009, construction accounted for 18.3% of all fatal work injuries in the U.S. The industry's fatality rate (9.9 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers) was the third highest among all industries. The emphasis on building a positive safety culture has proven to enhance contractors' safety awareness and performance. For example, the 1-Hour for Safety Management program, providing safety education for top management, successfully increased safety awareness, interest and commitment (Hakkinen, 1995). Job-site incidents were also reduced after a cultural intervention program was launched in the Netherlands' concrete industry (Oh & Sol, 2008). Corporate safety culture has gradually become a primary safety performance indicator (Mohamed, 2003; Reiman & Pietikeinen, 2010). This research's objective was two-fold: 1) study a safety program launched by a regional general contractor (GC), Messer Construction Co. (here-after called "the GC"), in the U.S. building construction industry; and 2) examine the program's effectiveness in building a positive safety culture based on a holistic assessment framework. This article presents an example of best safety management practices and offers an assessment tool that can be used to evaluate safety culture and safety program effectiveness.


Objective In April 2018, JUUL Labs announced a $30 million investment in efforts to combat underage use of its products through 'independent research, youth and parent education and community engagement'. Prior evidence demonstrates that tobacco industry-funded prevention programmes are ineffective and may work against tobacco control efforts; they do not discourage novices and youth from tobacco use but often improve the tobacco industry's public image. We describe the nature, timing of and expenditures related to the JUUL underage use prevention advertisements across media channels. Methods Expenditures for newspaper, magazine, television, and radio marketing and promotional efforts were collected through Kantar Media's 'Stradegy' dashboard, an online platform which provides counts of advertisement occurrences and expenditures on various media channels. JUUL public relations and corporate social responsibility ads were identified in the Kantar Database. All ad expenditures were extracted and aggregated by date. Analysis of the expenditure data was triangulated with newspaper and industry advertisement archives. Results Advertisements aired nationally and in over half of all US-designated market areas (n=130) across media platforms including newspapers, magazines, radio, and online in mobile web and internet displays. In 2018, JUUL Labs spent $30 million, predominantly for print advertising. The 'What Parents Need to Know about JUUL' ads primarily advertised JUUL's smoking reduction 'mission' and promoted the product. By 2019, advertising increased to $36.2 million. JUUL's message strategy transitioned to 'Cracking Down on Underage Sales in Retail Stores' and featured adult smoker testimonies, linking JUUL to smoking cessation. Discussion Marketing expenditures promoting JUUL's corporate social responsibility mission exceeded their $30 million investment in the underage use prevention efforts. The expenditures were focused on the media market areas where health organisation and legislative officials were launching investigations into JUUL social media and other promotional strategies.


BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
Current models of brain function propose that number processing involves the interaction of different neuronal networks. Our purpose was to use functional MR (fMR) imaging to elucidate the brain regions engaged by multiplication.

METHODS
Eighteen adults underwent fMR imaging while performing matching, multiplication, and control tasks. For each task, three or four single-digit or low-value double-digit numbers were presented serially followed by a 12-second delay. A target stimulus then appeared and subjects made a judgement by pressing a button box that recorded responses. During the matching task, subjects judged whether the target stimulus matched one of the previous numbers. During the multiplication task, subjects judged whether the target stimulus was the product of the previous numbers. For the control task, the numbers were always zeros, and the subjects responded to a target stimulus that was always four zeros. Composite statistical parametric maps of the time course of activation comparing the control task with the matching and multiplication tasks, respectively, were generated and the significance of signal changes was estimated by randomization of statistical parametric maps.

RESULTS
The matching and multiplication tasks resulted in activation (P < .005) in the medial superior frontal gyrus; the anterior cingulate gyrus; the intraparietal sulci, bilaterally; the right superior frontal sulcus bilaterally; the middle, inferior and precentral frontal gyri (left greater than right); the left basal ganglia; and the right lateral and inferior occipital gyri. There was a larger area of early activation in the right middle frontal gyrus during the matching task compared with the multiplication task, and there was a longer interval of activation in the left middle frontal gyrus during the multiplication task (10 seconds) than in the matching task (6 seconds).

CONCLUSION
Multiplication and memory of numbers share an integrated network of brain regions. The left frontal lobe, an area also involved in memory and language processes, appears to play an important role in multiplication.


While ecocriticism has become a respected field in literary theory and in the broader landscape of aesthetic philosophy, it could benefit from an enhanced ethical-political framework which social ecology – an underrated critical theory developed by Murray Bookchin – could provide. This essay attempts to tease out the potentials for such a framework, integrating the insights of social ecology, ecocriticism, Critical Realism, and John Dewey's aesthetic concepts into a layered idea-set used for the study of all kinds of aesthetic objects, from popular art to the gallery arts. Its key principles are the emergence of aesthetic objects (including formal artworks) out of congealed human experience, the relation between organism and environment in assessing meaning, the breakdown of implicit or overt hierarchies within a work, and the idea of the artist and art-critic as a "gardener".


Traditionally, museums spaces have tended to be located in the central areas of cities, thereby reinforcing existing dynamics and limiting their potential impact on more peripheral areas. The present study examines the locations chosen for museums that have been opened in three European cities: Barcelona, Paris and Turin, between the years 2000 and 2013. It shows how the locating of museums and galleries has not been homogeneous and how each potential location has its strengths and weaknesses. This is particularly evident when we consider such factors as the environmental impact of museums and how they influence the commercial offer, image and attractiveness of their host city. This paper identifies and examines the different types of impact that museum location strategies have on urban areas.


ABSTRACT We examine the life cycles of gasoline, diesel, compressed natural gas (CNG), and ethanol (C2H5OH)-fueled internal combustion engine (ICE) automobiles. Port and direct injection and spark and compression ignition engines are examined. We investigate diesel fuel from both petroleum and biosources as well as C2H5OH from corn, herbaceous bio-mass, and woody biomass. The baseline vehicle is a gasoline-fueled 1998 Ford Taurus. We optimize the other fuel/powertrain combinations for each specific fuel as a part of making the vehicles comparable to the baseline in terms of range, emissions level, and vehicle lifetime. Life-cycle calculations are done using the economic input-output life-cycle analysis (EIO-LCA) software; fuel cycles and vehicle end-of-life stages are based on published model results. We find that recent advances in gasoline vehicles, the low petroleum price, and the extensive gasoline infrastructure make it difficult for any alternative fuel to become commercially viable. The most attractive alternative fuel is compressed natural gas because it is less expensive than gasoline, has lower regulated pollutant and toxics emissions, produces less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and is available in North America in large quantities. However, the bulk and weight of gas storage cylinders required for the vehicle to attain a range comparable to that of gasoline vehicles necessitates a redesign of the engine and chassis. Additional natural gas transportation and distribution infrastructure is required for large-scale use of natural gas for transportation. Diesel engines are extremely attractive in terms of energy efficiency, but expert judgment is divided on whether these engines will be able to meet strict emissions standards, even with reformulated fuel. The attractiveness of direct injection engines depends on their being able to meet strict emissions standards without losing their greater efficiency. Biofuels offer lower GHG emissions, are sustainable, and reduce the demand for imported fuels. Fuels from food sources, such as biodiesel from soybeans and C2H5OH from corn, can be attractive only if the co-products are in high demand and if the fuel production does not diminish the food supply. C2H5OH from herbaceous or woody biomass could replace the gasoline burned in the light-duty fleet while supplying electricity as a co-product. While it costs more than gasoline, bioethanol would be attractive if the price of gasoline doubled, if significant reductions in GHG emissions were required, or if fuel economy regulations for gasoline vehicles were tightened.


The linear combination f12 = 2∙f(O) – f(H) of elemental balances: f1 = f(H) for H, and f2 = f(O) for O is the basis to formulate the generalized electron balance (GEB) for electrolytic redox systems according to Approach II to GEB, realized within the generalized approach to electrolytic systems (GATES) as GATES/GEB. Together with charge balance (f0 = ChB) and K–2 elemental/core balances: f3,…,fK, the f12 completes the set of K balances needed for resolution of an electrolytic redox system, of any degree of complexity. For a nonredox system, a proper linear combination of f12 with f0, and fk = f(Yk) (Yk ≠ H, O; k=3,…,K) gives the identity, 0 = 0. Consequently, in nonredox systems, f12 is linearly dependent on f0,f3,…,fK, i.e., f12 is not the independent balance. This independency/dependency property of f12 distinguishes between redox and non-redox systems. In a redox system, a proper linear combination of f12+f0 with the balances for electron-non-active elements/cores gives the simpler form of GEB, where the species composed only of electron-non-active elements are not involved. The multipliers applied in the linear combinations are equal to the oxidation numbers for elements participating redox or non-redox system. This regularity is highly important in context of the fact that the 'oxidation number' was essentially a contractual concept. Within GATES/GEB, the terms: oxidation number, oxidant and reductant, stoichiometry, and equivalent mass are derivative/redundant concepts only; the roles of oxidants and reductants are not assigned a priori to individual components. All these concepts are illustrated on simple examples of redox D+T systems, with aqueous solutions of (S1) Br2, and (S2) HBrO as titrand D, and NaOH solution as titrant T.


This work focused on the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of oil palm pressed fiber for the production of valuable products, over the reaction temperature (140 to 200 °C), time (1 to 4 h), and biomass to water content (BTW) (1:5 to 1:15). Reaction temperature was a vital key parameter on fuel properties of hydrochar. The combustibility of hydrochar reflected by fuel ratio increased from 0.42 at 140 °C to 0.54 at 200 °C. O/C and H/C atomic ratio decreased from 0.56 and 1.54 to 0.37 and 1.28, respectively, which corresponded to an increase in the estimated HHV from 21.0 to 24.6 MJ/kg. Hydrochar yield decreased from 78.4 to 61.7%. These phenomena were associated with hydrolysis, dehydration, decarboxylation, aromatization, and recondensation reactions. The reaction time and BTW affected slightly the yield and fuel properties of hydrochar. The valuable dissolved organic chemical species in the obtained liquid fraction were furfuryl alcohol, furfural, hydroxymethylfurfural, acetic acid, propionic acid, lactic acid, and formic acid with the maximum yields of 6.95, 2.05, 0.64, 6.91, 4.75, 4.11 and 2.64 wt.% dry raw material, respectively.


In this definitive history of a unique tradition, Tyler D. Parry untangles the convoluted history of the "broomstick wedding." Popularly associated with African American culture, Parry traces the ritual's origins to marginalized groups in the British Isles and explores how it influenced the marriage traditions of different communities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. His surprising findings shed new light on the complexities of cultural exchange between peoples of African and European descent from the 1700s up to the twenty-first century. Drawing from the historical records of enslaved people in the United States, British Romani, Louisiana Cajuns, and many others, Parry discloses how marginalized people found dignity in the face of oppression by innovating and reimagining marriage rituals. Such innovations have an enduring impact on the descendants of the original practitioners. Parry reveals how and why the simple act of "jumping the broom" captivates so many people who, on the surface, appear to have little in common with each other.


We study the effects of ideological polarization on regional planning networks. Over the last several decades, Americans have sorted themselves into local communities that are increasingly homogenous in their partisan and ideological make-up (Bishop 2008). Local governments from these communities face immense pressures to engage in regional planning; however, we hypothesize that differences in the political composition of local constituencies will render such intergovernmental cooperation difficult. Using data from a recent survey of California planners and government officials, we map regional planning networks in five California regions in real geographic space and test hypotheses about the factors that lead local governments to engage in regional planning activities. We find that, after controlling for physical distance and similarity of planning preferences, local governments whose constituents are similar politically are more likely to cooperate with one another in regional planning efforts than those whose constituents hold disparate political views. Paper prepared for presentation at the 2010 Duke Networks Conference. Note: Citations are incomplete.


OBJECTIVES
(1) To develop a classification system for visual field (VF) abnormalities, (2) to determine interreader and test-retest agreement, and (3) to determine the frequency of various VF defects in the Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study.

METHODS
Follow-up VFs are performed every 6 months and are monitored for abnormality, indicated by a glaucoma hemifield test result or a corrected pattern SD outside the normal limits. As of January 1, 2002, 1636 patients had 2509 abnormal VFs. Three readers independently classified each hemifield using a classification system developed at the VF reading center. A subset (50%) of the abnormal VFs was reread to evaluate test-retest reader agreement. A mean deviation was calculated separately for the hemifields as an index to the severity of VF loss.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
A 97% interreader hemifield agreement.

RESULTS
The average hemifield classification agreement (between any 2 of 3 readers) for 5018 hemifields was 97% and 88% for the 1266 abnormal VFs that were reread (agreement between the first and second classifications). Glaucomatous patterns of loss (partial arcuate, paracentral, and nasal step defects) composed the majority of VF defects.

CONCLUSION
The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study classification system has high reproducibility and provides a possible nomenclature for characterizing VF defects.


Publications about aspects of life or the natural environment in Papua New Guinea have won important prizes overseas, generally for the anthropological studies or scientific or other discoveries they report, not their literary qualities. Recent, outstanding recipients of significant, international prizes include the joint winner of the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, D. Carleton Gajdusek (for research on kuru), and the winner of the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Non-Fiction, Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs and Steel: A Short History of Everybody for the Last 13,000 Years (1997). Other reports of work in or closely relevant to Papua New Guinea have been recognised in the awards made to fourteen or more of the eighty-plus winners of the Royal Anthropological Institute's (2006) Rivers Memorial Medal, which was originally given specifically for 'anthropological work in the field' (a method of study which owes much to pioneering research in Papua New Guinea), and five gold medallists of the Royal Geographical Society (2006). The latter include the first Administrator of the British New Guinea colony, Sir William MacGregor, for 'exploring, mapping and giving information on the natives'; C.H. Karius for the first expedition to cross from the Fly to the Sepik Rivers in 1926–28 (recounted by his companion, Ivan Champion, in Champion [1932]); and Captain Jacques-Yves Cousteau inventor of the aqualung, underwater photographer, conservationist, and prolific author ('Jacques-Yves Cousteau', 2006), for 'underwater exploration'. Among women who have written about Papua New Guinea, Margaret Mead, winner of the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organisation's Kalinga Prize (among others), stands out as 'arguably the most renowned anthropologist of all time' ('Margaret Mead. 1901–1979', 2006) — author of forty-four books and more than 1,000 articles, including at least seven books which deal substantially with Papua New Guinean topics ('Margaret Mead (1901–1978)', 2006). This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol27/iss2/12


Abstract This study assesses the reasons that contributed to the rise of 'Academic Apartheid' in Arab higher educational institutions, by dwelling on their failure in overcoming alienation from indigenous epistemology, emancipating education from its colonial past, and trudging into the modern information age. Furthermore, the study alludes to the tenuous position of the Arab academic/research in rediscovering the epistemological framework of their indigenous world. The study concludes that the present institutional 'clanocratic' approaches to academic administration have ruinous effects on the performance of Arab academia including the arrest of transition toward modernization.


Magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium states with a three-dimensional helical core are computed to model the MAST spherical tokamak and the RFX-mod reversed field pinch. The boundary is fixed as axisymmetric. The MAST equilibrium state has the appearance of an internal kink mode and is obtained under conditions of weak reversed central shear. The RFX-mod equilibrium state has seven-fold periodicity. An ideal magnetohydrodynamic stability analysis reveals that the reversal of the core magnetic shear can stabilize a periodicity-breaking mode that is dominantly m/n = 1/8 strongly coupled to a m/n = 2/15 component, as long as the central rotational transform does not exceed the value of 8.


OBJECTIVE
To review factors influencing placebo response and clinical trial outcome in depression, and suggest ways to optimize trial success in mood disorders.

DATA SOURCES
PubMed searches were conducted by cross-referencing the terms depression, depressive with placebo, clinical trial, and clinical trials for studies published in English between 1970 and September 2013.

STUDY SELECTION
Relevant abstracts were identified in PubMed, including clinical trials, quantitative studies, and qualitative research. We obtained and reviewed relevant articles and utilized their information to synthesize the present review.

DATA EXTRACTION
Included articles were grouped in the following areas of relevance: (1) biological validity of illness, (2) baseline severity of illness, (3) chronicity of the index episode of depression, (4) age of participants, (5) medical and psychiatric comorbidity, (6) probability of receiving placebo, (7) use of prospective treatment phases (lead-in) (8) dosing schedule, (9) trial duration, (10) frequency of follow-up assessments, and (11) study outcome measure.

RESULTS
Several key elements emerge as critical to the ultimate success of a clinical trial, including the probability of receiving placebo, study duration, dosing schedule, visit frequency, the use of blinded lead-in phases, the use of centralized raters, illness severity and duration, and comorbid anxiety.

CONCLUSIONS
Our increasing understanding of the placebo response in clinical trials of major depressive disorder lends to a, gradually, more predictable phenomenon and, hopefully, to one that becomes lesser in magnitude and variability. Several elements have emerged that seem to play a critical role in trial success, gradually reshaping the design of clinical, translational, as well as mechanistic studies in depression.


ArteFill is a novel, third-generation polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) injectable filler with unique properties. When compared with predecessor materials, ArteFill demonstrates improved biocompatibility as a result of more uniform PMMA microsphere size and shape. This translates into less adverse events after placement. ArteFill can provide a permanent volume enhancement by stimulation of fibroblasts that encapsulate nonabsorbable microspheres with collagen deposition. Currently, ArteFill is FDA approved for permanent augmentation of moderately deep nasolabial folds. It is also commonly used off-label for augmentation of other skin creases and regional areas of volume deficiency, such as the tear trough-malar and marionette line-prejowl sulcus regions. The key to success with ArteFill is a conservative approach with avoidance of overcorrection. Proper technique includes deep dermal to subcutaneous placement with full correction achieved gradually over several treatments. Complications are mostly limited to nodule formation, which is easily managed in most cases with conservative intervention.


I. INTRODUCTION II. HISTORY OF ORGAN DONATION IN THE UNITED STATES A. The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act B. The National Organ Transplantation Act C. Consequences of the Acts 1. Organ Shortage 2. Black Market III. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS A. Organ Market B. Routine Request C. Presumed Consent IV. PROPOSED SOLUTION A. Organ Conscription B. Concerns 1. The Fifth Amendment 2. Religion 3. Commodification 4. Loss of Autonomy V. CONCLUSION I. INTRODUCTION On his third tour of duty in Afghanistan, just two weeks before he was scheduled to return home, Army Ranger Corporal Ben Kopp was mortally wounded while fighting the Taliban. (1) His heroic actions saved the lives of at least six of his fellow Rangers. (2) However, his heroism did not end there. Because he was an organ donor, Corporal Kopp may save, improve, or prolong the lives of seventy-five more people. (3) One of those fortunate people, Judy Meikle, was desperately in need of a heart transplant. (4) Now, because of Corporal Kopp's heroism, Judy says that everything has improved since the transplant) "I don't think there can be a better tribute to Jill's [Ben's mother] generosity and Ben's--literally in my case-- Ben's big brave heart, than to have his heart keep beating inside me." (6) Corporal Kopp's mother explained, "To experience that joy along with my sorrow--that's got to be what a miracle feels like." (7) Although many Americans are not capable of the heroism required to risk their lives in the military, anyone can be a hero by donating his or her organs when he or she passes away. Unfortunately, very few Americans donate their organs: According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, only 8,019 people who died in 2006 donated their organs. (9) That represents only 0.33%, or three in 1,000, of the people who died in 2006. (10) This low number has led to a current organ waiting list of 110,127 people. (11) On average, eighteen people die each day while waiting for an organ. (12) Often, after waiting on a list for an organ, people are removed from the waiting lists because their conditions have deteriorated to the point where organ transplantation would not save them. (13) In 2010, new entrants on the waitlist are likely to wait ten years for that organ. (14) This deficit is the result of two factors. First, the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act and the National Organ Transplant Act prohibit the sale and purchase of any organ or tissue for valuable consideration. (15) Not only does this discourage donation, but it also takes away a crucial property right from individuals, the right to exchange for valuable consideration. (16) Second, some estimate that 30% of Americans do not even know how to become organ donors. (17) These facts indicate that the current system of voluntary, altruistic donation has failed. Recently, Israel, another country struggling with organ deficits, decided that its voluntary, altruistic system was not working and changed it. (18) Now, the families of the deceased organ donors are permitted to receive up to $13,400 that can be used to memorialize the deceased. (19) In doing so, Israel has become the first country in the world to allow deceased organ donors to be rewarded. (20) This plan, however, may not go far enough towards alerting the problem of organ shortages. (21) A mandated organ donation system that compensates the families of the donors is the best way to ensure that people waiting for organs do not die needlessly, and also ensures that individuals' Fifth Amendment rights are not violated. Mandating donation would guarantee the availability of organs, which could prevent hundreds of deaths each year. Although mandatory donation may seem like an extreme government measure, without it, people will continue to die because of a lack of organs. Therefore, to ensure that individuals are not unduly burdened by the taking of their organs, there must be just compensation. …


The validity of Genolopa Linton, 1910 has been controversial because the observation of presently recognized critical diagnostic morphological features (spines in the genital atrium and a bipartite, anteriorly spined terminal organ) were omitted from the original diagnosis, and these features were not universally appreciated as important diagnostic features until 2008. Modern taxonomists have been further challenged by inappropriate fixation techniques that have resulted in various interpretations of morphological features. Consequently, named species in the genus have fluctuated among other monorchiid genera depending on various interpretations by taxonomists, and a modern consensus on classifying these species is lacking. This study combines a molecular approach with modern conventional morphological techniques to investigate the validity of Genolopa as a lineage within the Monorchiidae. New morphology and molecular sequence data from the type-species of Genolopa were studied, and two new species in the genus were described, Genolopa vesca n. sp. and Genolopa minuscula n. sp. Interrelationships among the Monorchiidae were explored using Bayesian inference analysis of the partial 28S rDNA fragment, incorporating three species of Genolopa for the first time. The phylogenetic analysis revealed that the genus represents a natural lineage, supporting the presence of spines in the genital atrium in conjunction with a bipartite and anteriorly spined terminal organ as key features of the generic diagnosis. This study also provides for the first time partial 28S rDNA data for Postmonorchis orthopristis, Lasiotocus trachinoti, Lasiotocus glebulentus, and an unidentified species of Lasiotocus.


To narrow the widening gap between processor and memory performance, the authors propose improving the cache locality of pointer-manipulating programs and bolstering performance by careful placement of structure elements. It is concluded that considering past trends and future technology, it seems clear that the processor-memory performance gap will continue to increase and software will continue to grow larger and more complex. Although cache-conscious algorithms and data structures are the first and perhaps best place to attack this performance problem, the complexity of software design and an increasing tendency to build large software systems by assembling smaller components does not favor a focused, integrated approach. We propose another, more incremental approach of cache-conscious data layout, which uses techniques such as clustering, coloring, and compression to enhance data locality by placing structure elements more carefully in the cache.


Young Dalit men and women are changing the narrative of casteist oppression in India. Youth activists perform protest songs in the genre of rap and gaana , using elements of slam poetry and rap from African American artists and blending them with local musical innovations. The performances have deliberate messaging, signaling particular caste and gender injustices, both current and historical. This paper will analyze Dalit youth performances of rap, gaana , and street theater ( koothu ) in South India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, to understand the poetics of protest against caste and gender oppression. It will look at the notion of space in these performances. Since social space has historically been restricted for marginalized groups such as Dalits, and even private space has never existed for Dalits, more so for women, the performance space—the screen, the theatre, or street—becomes a heterotopia, or a third space for voicing injustice through song. Taboos are tossed aside in this space; transgressive, private-public fused in-your-face musical phrasings appear on every audio and visual device through the globalization of the internet. Rap and gaana queer accepted caste and gender narratives. This paper will look at youth rappers, such as Arivu, the latest sensation, gaana performer, Isaivani's performances, as well as "The Casteless Collective" and inquire into the reasons for their appeal despite their iconoclasm. Affect is another area of inquiry in the analysis of Dalit performance, since caste and gender oppression meant invisibilizing Dalits and not seeing them as humans with emotions. Examining the value of affect within performances as well as its effect on audiences is important, since both coalesce to make historically restricted speech appealing and far-reaching in effecting change.


This dissertation addresses the complexities involved with scheduling in the presence of conditional branches. This is a particularly important problem for processors that execute multiple operations per cycle and are not fully utilized by local scheduling techniques. Since conditional branches introduce multiple execution paths, it is difficult for a global scheduler to keep track of the various paths and to select the appropriate operations to schedule. A new approach to global instruction scheduling is presented that uses Isomorphic Control Transformations (ICTs). If-conversion is used to convert an acyclic control flow graph into a large basic block or hyper-block. Local scheduling techniques which are well-known and widely supported can then be applied to schedule operations. After scheduling, the control flow graph is regenerated using Reverse If-Conversion.
One well-known local scheduling based technique is Modulo Scheduling. Modulo Scheduling is a software pipelining technique that effectively schedules loops for high-performance processors. This dissertation highlights the benefits of Modulo Scheduling over other software pipelining techniques based on global scheduling. The ICTs are applied to Modulo Scheduling to schedule loops with conditional branches. Experimental results show that this approach allows more flexible scheduling and thus better performance than Modulo Scheduling with Hierarchical Reduction. Modulo Scheduling with ICTs targets processors with no or limited support for conditional execution such as superscalar processors. However, in processors that do not require instruction set compatibility, support for Predicated Execution can be used. This dissertation shows that Modulo Scheduling with Predicated Execution has better performance and lower code expansion than Modulo Scheduling with ICTs on processors without special hardware support.


White coats are known to be potential transmitting agents of multi-drug resistant organisms. This study was conducted to determine the level and type of microbial contamination present on the white coats of medical students in order to assess the risk of transmission of pathogenic micro-organisms by this route in a hospital setting. A cross sectional survey of the bacterial contamination of white coats in a tertiary care hospital. 50 medical students working in various specialties were included in the study. Swabs were taken from 4 different areas of the white coat – collar, pocket, side and lapel and processed in the Microbiology department according to standard procedures. Although most of the white coats had been washed within the past 2 weeks, the sides of the coats were the most highly contaminated areas followed closely by the collar and pockets. Staphylococcus aureus was the most common isolate followed by coagulase negative Staphylococci and Gram negative non fermenters. Most of the Gram positive cocci were resistant to Penicillin, Erythromycin and Clindamycin. White coats have been shown to harbor potential contaminants and may have a role in the nosocomial transmission of pathogenic microorganisms. Thus, a yearly purchase of white coats and the possession of two or more white coats at any point in time should be made compulsory. There is pressing need to promote scrupulous hand washing before and after attending patients and alternatives to white coats, including universal use of protective gowns, should be considered.


Abstract. This study is the first attempt to understand the synergistic impact
of anthropogenic and biogenic emissions on summertime
ozone (O3) formation in the Guanzhong (GZ) Basin where Xi'an, the oldest and the most populous city (with
a population of 9 million) in northwestern China, is located. Month-long (August 2011) WRF-Chem simulations with
different sensitivity experiments were conducted and compared with near-surface measurements. Biogenic volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) concentrations was characterized from six surface sites among the Qinling Mountains, and urban air
composition was measured in Xi'an city at a tower 100 ma.s. The WRF-Chem control experiment reasonably
reproduced the magnitudes and variations of observed O3, VOCs, NOx, PM2.5, and
meteorological parameters, with normalized mean biases for each parameter within ±21 %. Subsequent analysis
employed the factor separation approach (FSA) to quantitatively disentangle the pure and synergistic impacts of
anthropogenic and/or biogenic sources on summertime O3 formation. The impact of anthropogenic sources alone was
found to be dominant for O3 formation. Although anthropogenic particles reduced NO2 photolysis by up
to 60 %, the anthropogenic sources contributed 19.1 ppb O3 formation on average for urban Xi'an. The
abundant biogenic VOCs from the nearby forests promoted O3 formation in urban areas by interacting with the
anthropogenic NOx. The calculated synergistic contribution (from both biogenic and anthropogenic sources) was
up to 14.4 ppb in urban Xi'an, peaking in the afternoon. Our study reveals that the synergistic impact of
individual source contributions to O3 formation should be considered in the formation of air pollution control
strategies, especially for big cities in the vicinity of forests.


Self-supervised Learning (SSL) including the mainstream contrastive learning has achieved great success in learning visual representations without data annotations. However, most of methods mainly focus on the instance level information (\ie, the different augmented images of the same instance should have the same feature or cluster into the same class), but there is a lack of attention on the relationships between different instances. In this paper, we introduced a novel SSL paradigm, which we term as relational self-supervised learning (ReSSL) framework that learns representations by modeling the relationship between different instances. Specifically, our proposed method employs sharpened distribution of pairwise similarities among different instances as \textit{relation} metric, which is thus utilized to match the feature embeddings of different augmentations. Moreover, to boost the performance, we argue that weak augmentations matter to represent a more reliable relation, and leverage momentum strategy for practical efficiency. Experimental results show that our proposed ReSSL significantly outperforms the previous state-of-the-art algorithms in terms of both performance and training efficiency. Code is available at \url{https://github.com/KyleZheng1997/ReSSL}.


Let $G=(X,Y;E)$ be a bipartite graph, where $X$ and $Y$ are color classes and $E$ is the set of edges of $G$. Lovasz and Plummer \cite{LoPl86} asked whether one can decide in polynomial time that a given bipartite graph $G=(X,Y; E)$ admits a 1-anti-factor, that is subset $F$ of $E$ such that $d_F(v)=1$ for all $v\in X$ and $d_F(v)\neq 1$ for all $v\in Y$. Cornuejols \cite{CHP} answered this question in the affirmative. Yu and Liu \cite{YL09} asked whether, for a given integer $k\geq 3$, every $k$-regular bipartite graph contains a 1-anti-factor. This paper answers this question in the affirmative.


Recent results obtained from a pilot plant study showed that the rate of morning temperature increase in surface water is significantly correlated with the degree of water pollution expressed as turbidity. The aim of the present study was to validate the above findings under field conditions. Two oxidation ponds differing in their effluent quality were investigated during the summer. In clear weather and moderate winds the ponds were thermally stratified. Continuous records of subsurface temperature and parallel measurements of turbidity provided data for statistical analysis. The variables tested appeared significantly correlated and the more polluted pond exhibited consistently a higher rate of morning temperature increase. Temperature measurements can be carried out remotely using airborn IR radiometric equipment. The thermal method should be applied together with visible spectrum imaging, which can identify pollution components according to the specific waveband of the reflected light.


Numerical calculations based on the transfer matrix method are carried out, and the results of band gap with resonance peaks are obtained. The electron beam lithography technology (EBL) and induction coupling plasma (ICP) etching are used to make the photonic crystal (PC) structures, and from several scanning electron microscope images, the PC structures are observed with features closing to the design. In order to create the tiny PC structures in the right places of the waveguide by the EBL technology at different time, some alignment markers are deposited on the chip, which are made of gold that deposited on titanium for its good adhesion to the underlying Si. An optical testing bed is designed for measurement of the optical characterization of PC structures. Through the analysis of the measured data, \Delta \lambda value of 0.8 nm is obtained and for the centre frequency of 1547 nm, a very high quality factor value of 1933 can be obtained. The 3-nm difference represents only a 0.2% error from the theoretical centre.