Small- and medium-sized enterprises exert a strong influence on the economies of all countries, particularly in the fast-changing and increasingly competitive global market (Anaroni 1994; Drilhon and Estime 1993). They have been a major engine of economic growth and technological progress (Mulhern, 1995; Thornburg 1993). Carrier (1994) said that SMEs are often more fertile than larger firms in terms of innovation. The features of SMEs such as flexibility, innovativeness, and problem-solving action orientation are now being considered as vital for success in the 1990s. Even large companies have attempted to implement entrepreneurship and have learned to think like a small business (Chittipeddi and Wallett 1991). Simon (1996) investigated 500 SME champions in Germany and commented that they have much to teach companies of all sizes and all regions about commercial success. SMEs have been the primary source of employment creation worldwide over the last decade (Mulhern 1995). In the United States, firms with fewer than 500 employees account for more than 99 percent of all business establishments and employ over 80 percent of the work force (Aharoni 1994). In Holland, 95 percent of firms are SMEs (Bijmolt and Zwart 1994); SMEs also comprise 95 percent of the total establishments in the Philippines (De la Pena 1995). In Taiwan, SMEs constitute 96.5 percent of the approximately 935,000 business establishments and employ 78.6 percent of the total work force (Taiwan Medium and Small Business Administration 1995). The success of SMEs in Taiwan has been well acknowledged (Hannon 1996; Hiebert 1993; Huang 1990; Kao and Lee 1991; Liu, Liu, and Wu 1995). They have played a vital role in promoting rapid growth during Taiwan's economic transition (Hannon 1996; Liu, Liu, and Wu 1995). The scale, scope, organization, and management of SMEs have changed over time in response to evolving markets, technologies, and economic conditions. An in-depth study of management practices of SMEs in Taiwan may unveil characteristics of their success. Literature Review Studies on the economic prosperity of Taiwan have been mainly macroscopic in nature (Fu 1991; Lee, Liu, and Wang 1994; Park and Johnston 1995; Wu and Chou 1987), or limited to a single perspective like outsourcing and networking (Chen 1991; Shieh 1992). A systematic in-depth investigation of the management practices of SMEs in Taiwan has yet to be reported. Management is dynamic. Longitudinal probing of the progression or organizational change in successful SMEs may provide a modeling of management practices. Theories of organizational change include process-oriented and content-oriented models. Lewin's three steps of unfreeze-change-refreeze and action research using the diagnosis-analysis-feedback-action-evaluation steps typify the process orientation. Peters, Waterman, and Phillips' 7S model (1980) - shared value, strategy, structure, system, style, skills, and staff - and Leavitt's model (1964) of structure, technology, and people are of content orientation. Leavitt's model is simple, all-encompassing (covering "hard" structure/technology and "soft" people) and has been widely used (Nadler 1981). In attempting to explore the key contents of management practices, this study has adopted Leavitt's model. Leavitt states that an organization can be changed by altering its structure, technology and people (Stoner and Freeman 1989). Research in the area of Taiwanese business practices has an added significance because of the increased importance of Asia and, in particular, the Pacific Rim nations in the world economy. Meller (1993) said that East Asia will set the world pace for prosperity, and what is happening in the Pacific region has become a global concern. Adler, Doktor, and Redding (1986, p. 296) also mentioned that "Paralleling the shift of business from the Atlantic to the Pacific Basin, we move from the field's conceptually Occidental history to an Oriental perspective. …


] Abstract: Publishing scientific articles allows for disseminating the results of a study and concludes the research process; such publication allows the academic to develop more research skills. Objective: To analyze the factors associated with the production of scientific articles in university professors. Material and Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study that collected the amount of articles published in the Scopus and SciELO databases by ordinary professors of the Faculty of Dentistry of the National University of San Marcos (Lima, Peru). Associated factors included: sex, teaching category, dedication time, academic degree, positions at other universities, professional experience and teaching courses related to scientific research. Results: 20.8% of academics presented at least one article published. Male sex (OR = 1.12, 95% CI: 1.04-2.49), working at one university only (OR = 1.39, 95% CI: 1.12-2.71), teaching courses related to research methodology (OR = 1.35, 95% CI: 1.05-4.27) and having more than 10 years' experience in university teaching (OR = 2.95, 95% CI: 2.1-8.97) were factors associated with greater scientific production. Conclusions: One fifth of ordinary professors presented scientific production in the databases Scopus and SciELO, with the main factors associated with a greater production of scientific articles being sex, course teaching, number of years in teaching and number of work-institutions.


When the self paced preparation of an action is interrupted by a stimulus prompting the same motor response there is an increase in the reaction time to the stimulus as compared to an external or simple reaction time (SRT) condition (Obhi & Haggard, 2004). Previous studies have suggested that this cost is not attributable to perceptual or attentional factors. Therefore, to investigate the source of this RT cost we varied the motor demands of movements in Experiments one and two. Results indicated that the level of motor programming demands did not influence the RT cost in these experiments. While RTs for more demanding movements (i.e., bimanual or serial key presses) were slower than those for simple one finger actions (i.e., single key presses), the RT cost was not significantly different for both response types. That is, the RT cost did not increase as a function of motor programming demands. In a control experiment (experiment three), we assimilated the external and truncation conditions through the creation of the external-subvocal condition, to investigate if the source of the RT cost was reflective of the dual task of subvocalization. The results revealed that although the RT cost was reduced, counting subvocally did not eliminate the RT cost. Simply, the RT cost is not explained by the dual task of subvocalization. The ability to modify planned actions is fundamental to everyday life, thus we investigated the time course of modifying planned actions on the basis of an external cue in experiment four. Reaction times to produce modified actions were significantly greater than those to produce unmodified actions. Additionally, it took significantly longer to produce modified actions requiring one less effector than to produce modified actions requiring one more effector. We suggest that two timeconsuming processes are involved in switching between internally generated and Triggers for Action ii externally triggered actions that are modified or unmodified: a trigger switch cost when the same action has to be produced in response to an external trigger as opposed to an internal trigger, and a switch cost reflecting changes in the pattern of executed motor commands when modification is necessary. It is suggested that such processes may be mediated by regions of the frontal lobes. Finally, we conducted two experiments to investigate the time course of cancelling a planned action on the basis of an environmental prompt. It was found that an internally prepared action can be cancelled with 300ms, regardless of the motor demands associated with the prepared action, suggesting that we are cancelling the prospective "when" component of the action.


This dissertation aims to explore the phenomenon of the worship of abstract
concepts in personified form and its development in the Archaic and Classical periods.
An introductory chapter surveys previous scholarly literature on the subject and covers
some general theoretical issues: i) definitions; ii) problems of sources and
methodology; iii) the question of the predominantly feminine gender of these figures;
iv) ancient and modern theories on deified abstractions as a class. Six chapters then
look at a selection of individual cults in roughly chronological sequence, each
exemplifying one or more of the general questions raised by such cults. Themis
provides a good example of the very "mythological" deified abstractions of the Archaic
period and the problems of tracing the origins and early history of personification cults.
Nemesis was probably worshipped at Rhamnous from the sixth century, but acquires
unique status in the fifth from an association with the battle of Marathon; the cult of
the two Nemeseis at Smyrna, I argue, is a fourth-century innovation. Peitho is often
associated with rhetoric, but a survey of her cult associations in a variety of locations
emphasises her erotic side, an aspect further revealed in vase-painting. These three
figures all have roots in archaic literature, whereas Hygieia, though soon mythologised
as daughter of Asklepios, does not appear in any medium before her arrival in Athens
in 420 BC in the healing god's wake. Her cult particularly raises the question of how
seriously personifications could be taken as deities, since the concept which she
embodies is so patently a human desideratum. Later innovations are similarly often
dismissed as "mere" allegory or propaganda, as is illustrated by the case of Eirene in
fourth-century Athens, most famously represented in Kephisodotos' group of Peace
holding the child Wealth, her cult introduced in response to quite specific political
circumstances. The problems of correlating archaeological and literary sources are
particularly acute in the case of the most "abstract", figure to be considered, Eleos,
eponymous deity of the Athenian "altar of Pity"; although the altar dates from the late
sixth century, its insubstantial god is probably a later development. From these six
case studies some provisional conclusions can be offered on the place of deified
abstract ideas in Greek religious thought and practice.


BACKGROUNDS/AIMS
Doppler ultrasongraphy is used to evaluate hemodynamic alternations in patients with liver cirrhosis. Purpose of this study was to determine the interequipment variability of Doppler indices in portal and splenic vein in cirrhosis.

METHODS
Blood velocity, diameter, flow and congestive index in portal and splenic vein were measured by Doppler ultrasonography in 30 patients with cirrhosis using two different machines.

RESULTS
Portal venous velocities measured by HDI-5000 and SSD-5000 were 8.72+/-3.69 cm/sec, 12.21+/-2.84 cm/sec, respectively which showed significant difference (P<0.001). Measured portal blood flows and congestive indices also had significant difference between HDI-5000 and SSD-5000 (P<0.01). Splenic venous velocity by HDI-5000 was 8.55+/-2.71 cm/sec, which was lower than that of 12.32+/-3.11 cm/sec by SSD-5000 (P<0.001). Splenic blood flows measured by HDI-5000 and SSD-5000 were 390.73+/-260.98 mL/min, 595.01+/-346.53 mL/min, respectively, showing significant difference (P=0.015). However, no differences were in the diameters of portal and splenic vein between HDI-5000 and SSD-5000.

CONCLUSION
Doppler indices in portal and splenic vein showed significant interequipment variability. Therefore, in liver cirrhosis, hemodynamic investigations using different Doppler ultrasonographic machines is inappropriate.


Leukorrhea, an increased amount of vaginal discharge, is considered by some the female equivalent to the culture-bound syndrome of semen loss anxiety (dhat syndrome) of South Asian men, and by others an idiom of distress. Ayurvedic concepts of the body are often cited as the underlying cause of Indian women's undue concern with it. It has been suggested that ayurvedic doctors recognize and treat shvetapradara, the ayurvedic equivalent of leukorrhea, as a disease which could have serious consequences if left unattended, but literature on the actual practice of modern vaidyas is rare, and ayurvedic gynecology as a separate branch of professionalized and institutionalized Ayurveda has not received any attention so far.
By taking on a praxiographic approach I follow shvetapradara through different sites and contexts within a government Ayurveda university hospital in North-West India, exploring the vaidyas' practices and academic work surrounding it, the materialities involved, both the scope and restrictions defining their practice, and subsequently the object enacted. Through this process and I arrive at a reflexion of contemporary professional ayurvedic practice, which is an amalgamation of biomedical and ayurvedic aspects.
I conclude that what goes under the name of shvetapradara in modern ayurvedic practice is a multiplicity of objects, whose identities differ according to their context, but are not congruent with what anthropologists and cross-cultural psychiatrists refer to in the context of dhat syndrome and somatization. I propose with regards to the study of modern institutionalized and professionalized Ayurveda that it be studied as its own system of medicine. Its specific way of using the language and practice of both Ayurveda and biomedicine deserves to be studied in its own right and without being reduced to two incommensurable parts. Modern professional Ayurveda in India is constituted of ayurvedic and biomedical aspects, but the whole of it is different than the sum of its parts.


The gender question in computer science is often presented as: "Why are there so few women in computer science and what can be done about that?"This question usually focuses on women. Sometimes "men" or "gender" enter the discussions. However, it is not common that the second part of the sentence - computer science - is considered.The papers in this thesis challenge, in different ways, how the gender question is usually perceived and discussed within the community of computer scientists, and where solutions are looked for.The approach taken is to move focus from women/gender to the discipline of computer science itself. This means the question is raised towards a more general level,towards "the science question", discussing the discipline, its paradigms and knowledge processes.Theories and methodologies from gender research, used within computer science, offer new possibilities to develop broader and more complex understandings of "the gender question in computer science".


A growing body of literature shows that the simple past is difficult to perceive (Bell et al., 2015; Klein et al., 2003; Solt et al., 2003), yet all perception studies to date have used experimentally-manipulated input, and none have investigated the impact of contextual cues beyond temporal adverbials on perception of the regular past, nor whether second language (L2) exposure and use are related to more accurate perception. This study investigated whether L2 learners and native (L1) speakers of English perceive regular past –ed in naturalistic input, whether phonological context (easy allomorph [əd] or hard allomorphs [t, d]) impacts perception, and whether language exposure and use are related to increased confidence or perceptual accuracy. Eleven L1 speakers and 28 L2 learners (14 intermediate and 14 advanced) watched 64 clips from television sitcoms (32 with utterances in simple past and 32 with utterances in simple present), indicated whether they heard –ed or no ending, and rated their confidence on an 8-point Likert scale. Results indicated no difference between learner groups in present versus past perceptual accuracy, but significant difference in perception of simple past. L1 speakers perceived the present versus past more accurately than both learner groups, but advanced learners showed no difference from L1 speakers in perception of past. Confidence ratings increased with proficiency, and advanced learners showed higher confidence in their ability to perceive past over present. All groups perceived the perceptually easy allomorph [əd] more accurately and with higher confidence than the two perceptually hard allomorphs [t, d]. A relationship was revealed between L2 learners' perception accuracy, age of onset, and amount of time studying English. Increased confidence was related to length of time studying English. Only self-reported listening proficiency was associated with accurate perception in perceptually hard contexts. Exploratory debriefing interviews revealed that context cues were often used to interpret tense by advanced learners and L1 speakers. Findings are interpreted within emergentist views of language acquisition and discussed in light of implicit learning ability. Pedagogical implications are considered.


Keywords: collective memory, cultural memory, memory studies, mnemohistory.

This article outlines some recent achievements and new perspectives in contemporary memory studies. It first gives an overview of the recent handbooks and anthologies of memory studies, which mark the emergence of a kind of meta-memory research and testify to the institutionalization of the young discipline. More precisely, these three anthologies are discussed: "Theories of memory: a reader" (2007), ed. by Michael Rossington and Anne Whitehead; "Memory: an anthology" (2008), ed. by Harriet Harvey Wood and A. S. Byatt; "The collective memory reader" (2011), ed. by Jeffrey K. Olick, Vered Vinitzky-Seroussi and Daniel Levy; as well as three recent handbooks: "Cultural memory studies: an international and interdisciplinary handbook (2008), ed. by Astrid Erll and Ansgar Nunning; "Gedachtnis und Erinnerung: ein interdisziplinares Handbuch" (2010) ed. by Christian Gudehus, Ariane Eichenberg and Harald Welzer; "Memory: histories, theories, debates" (2010), ed. by Susannah Radstone and Bill Schwartz.
Secondly, the article discusses the emergence of cultural memory studies, one of the most fruitful and promising trends in the collective memory studies of the last decade. Contemporary memory studies are rooted in sociology, particularly the works of Maurice Halbwachs; however, it seems that over the last decade, memory studies have been dominated by a 'cultural turn', with the more innovative and attractive ideas originating from cultural theorists and cultural historians. The most important shapers of this turn have most probably been the German scholars, Aleida and Jan Assmann, coming from English studies and Egyptology, respectively, who in the 1990s worked out a new influential model of analysis for memory studies, centered on the concept of 'cultural memory'. Next to the Assmanns, the recent publications of Astrid Erll ("Memory in culture", 2011) and Ann Rigney ("The afterlives of Walter Scott: memory on the move", 2012) also are discussed, concluding that contemporary cultural memory studies stress primarily the dynamics, intermediality, and performativity of remembering.
And finally, the article addresses the old debate on the relationship of history and memory, in order to propose an alternative conceptual framework for it and demonstrate the perspectives opened by a new avenue of research, mnemohistory. In the mnemohistorical perspective, the key question of historical research is not about the original significance of past events, but rather about how these events emerge in specific instances and are then translated over time, and about their everyday actualization and propagation. Mnemohistory enables the historian – better than before – to encompass the two levels he or she is simultaneously working on: the historicization of the phenomenon of the past, and the historicization of their own work.
 To conclude with, the article argues that the proliferation of memory studies in particular and the social 'memory boom' in general can be regarded as symptomatic of a much more general epistemological shift, the emergence of a new, presentist regime of historicity (new ways of articulating the categories of the past, the present and the future). A presentist regime of historicity implies a new mode of understanding time, an abandoning of the linear, causal and homogeneous conception of time characteristic of the previous, modernist regime of historicity. It has made possible a shift of the historian's gaze so that the past no longer appears as something final and irreversible but persists in many ways in the present. It is plausible that these developments in general, as well as the meteoric rise of the concept of memory in particular, have irreversibly changed both the nature and outlook of history writing.

Marek Tamm (b. 1973) is Associate Professor of Cultural History, Estonian Institute of Humanities, Tallinn University.


The global food price shock of 2006-2008 has particularly affected poorer strata of populations in several developing countries. In Egypt and some other countries it has put food subsidy schemes to the test. This paper develops two comparable computable general equilibrium models for Egypt and Ukraine which are used to simulate direct and indirect impacts of the food price surge and various policy options on the performance of the main macroeconomic indicators as well as on poverty outcomes. The results illustrate the limited ability of realistic policy responses to mitigate negative social consequences of an external price shock. Food import tariff cuts are a partial remedy faring better than other analysed options. Furthermore, the Egyptian system of food subsidies needs substantial reforms limiting the related fiscal burden and improving the targeting of the poor population.


My dissertation consists of two chapters on nonparametric inference and model selection in econometric models. Researchers in economics and social science need reliable models and statistical tools to quantify economic relationships and uncertainty associated with data. In practice, researchers often evaluate their object of interests with various specifications in the first stage of analysis or select model by some criteria. Unfortunately, commonly used statistical methods may fail to assess uncertainty inherent in the first step specification search. Moreover, some existing model selection criteria may be fragile due to model misspecification errors. All these methods can lead to misleading conclusions without valid, robust corrections. To quantify and test economic theories more accurately in such cases, researchers and policy makers need more reliable and robust methods. My research investigates these issues and provides practical methods in empirical research with rigorous theoretical justifications. First chapter provides new inference methods in nonparametric series regression with data dependent number of series terms. Nonparametric series estimation have increased their popularity as it gives flexible method addressing potential misspecification of the parametric model. However, implementation in practice requires a choice of the number of series terms and the estimation and inference may largely depend on its choice. Existing asymptotic theory for inference in nonparametric series estimation typically imposes an undersmoothing condition that the number of series terms is sufficiently large to make bias asymptotically negligible. However, there is no formally justified data-dependent method for this in practice. This chapter constructs inference methods for nonparametric series regression models and introduces tests based on the infimum of t-statistics over different series terms. First, I provide a uniform asymptotic theory for the t-statistic process indexed by the number of series terms. Using this result, I show that the test based on the infimum of the t-statistics and its asymptotic critical value controls the asymptotic size with the undersmoothing condition. We can construct a valid confidence interval (CI) by test statistic inversion that has correct asymptotic coverage probability. Even when asymptotic bias terms are present without the undersmoothing condition, I show that the CI based on the infimum of the t-statistics bounds the coverage distortions. In an illustrative example, nonparametric estimation of wage elasticity of the expected labor supply from Blomquist and Newey (2002), proposed CI is close to or tighter than those based on existing methods with possibly ad hoc choice of series terms. Second chapter provides instrument selection criteria in instrumental variable (IV) regression model when there is a large set of instruments with potential invalidity. Economic data identified by IV model sometimes involve large sets of potential instruments and debates about their validity. Existing methods for instrument selection are largely based on a priori assumption of an instrument's validity and/or based on the first-order asymptotics, which may lead to a large finite sample bias with many and invalid instruments. First, I derive higher-order mean square error (MSE) approximation for two-stage least squares (2SLS), limited information maximum likelihood (LIML), modified Fuller (FULL) and bias-adjusted 2SLS (B2SLS) estimator allowing locally invalid instruments. Based on the approximation to the higher-order MSE, I propose an invalidity-robust instrument selection criteria (IRC) that capture two sources of finite sample bias at the same time: bias from using many instruments and bias from invalid instruments. I also show optimality result of choice of instruments based on the criteria of Donald and Newey (2001) under certain locally invalid instruments specification.


Diabetes is a chronic epidemic compounded by a burden of vascular complications
including diabetic nephropathy. Diabetic nephropathy affects ~40% of patients and is characterised
by increased urinary albumin excretion and decreased glomerular filtration rate.
Diabetic patients exhibit ~75% decreased plasma thiamine concentration, linked
to increased renal thiamine clearance. In streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, decreased
plasma thiamine concentration was also associated with a reduction in expression and activity
of transketolase. Transketolase is a thiamine pyrophosphate-dependent enzyme and a
critical component of the reductive pentose phosphate pathway, a metabolic pathway leading
from glycolysis involved with the synthesis of ribose sugars. It is proposed that increasing
the relative
flux of glucose through the pentose phosphate pathway can ameliorate hyperglycaemic
damage. This thesis investigates mechanisms mediating the increased renal thiamine
clearance and the effects of thiamine therapy on type 2 diabetic patients with nephropathy.
The hypothesis that hyperglycaemia increases
flux through the hexosamine pathway, leading
to increased O-glycosylation of the transcription factor Sp1 and subsequent decreased
expression of thiamine transporters is investigated.
Thiamine transporters in normal human kidney sections were found to be localised to
the proximal tubule. Investigations in primary cultures of human proximal tubule epithelial
cells and the HK-2 cell line have shown that there is a decreased expression (-48 to -80%) and abundance (-52 to -77%) of thiamine transporters in cells cultured in high glucose
concentrations (26mM) with respect to low glucose concentrations (5 mM). There is only
limited evidence supporting the involvement of the hexosamine pathway in these decreases.
A double-blind, placebo-controlled study investigated the effect of thiamine supplementation
on type 2 diabetic patients with microalbuminuria. Thiamine therapy restored
plasma thiamine concentrations from 11nM to 98nM, exceeding the published median concentration
observed in normal patients (64nM). After three months, thiamine therapy,
but not placebo, caused a decrease in the urinary albumin excretion rate relative to baseline
(-18 mg day-1). These results show promise for thiamine as a therapy for diabetic
nephropathy.


What do we mean by publishing in today's world? What should be the goals of scholarly publishing? What are the ideals to which scholarly publishing should aspire? What roles might scholarly publishers have in the future? What scenarios exist where publishers continue to play a vital role but information moves more freely? What impact might these reforms have on the health of publishers? Scholarly societies? Science research? Why?


We present a model of the specialist olfactory system of selected moth species and the cockroach. The model is built in a semirandom fashion, constrained by biological (physiological and anatomical) data. We propose a classification of the response patterns of individual neurons, based on the temporal aspects of the observed responses. Among the observations made in our simulations a number relate to data about olfactory information processing reported in the literature; others may serve as predictions and as guidelines for further investigations. We discuss the effect of the stochastic parameters of the model on the observed model behavior and on the ability of the model to extract features of the input stimulation. We conclude that a formal network, built with random connectivity, can suffice to reproduce and to explain many aspects of olfactory information processing at the first level of the specialist olfactory system of insects.


Summary Background Iloprost, a stable prostacyclin analog, is used as a rescue therapy for severe peripheral arterial disease (PAD). It has systemic vasodilatory and anti-aggregant effects, with severe vasodilatation potentially causing organ ischaemia when severe atherosclerosis is the underlying cause. In this study, we retrospectively analysed renal outcomes after iloprost infusion therapy in 86 patients. Methods Eighty-six patients with PAD who received iloprost infusion therapy were retrospectively analysed. Clinical and biochemical parameters were recorded before (initial, Cr1), during (third day, Cr2), and after (14th day following the termination of infusion therapy, Cr3) treatment. Acute kidney injury (AKI) was defined according to KDIGO guidelines as a ≥ 0.3 mg/dl (26.52 μmol/l) increase in creatinine levels from baseline within 48 hours. Results: Cr2 (1.46 ± 0.1 mg/dl) (129.06 ± 8.84 μmol/l) and Cr3 (1.53 ± 0.12 mg/dl) (135.25 ± 10.61 μmol/l) creatinine levels were significantly higher compared to the initial value (1.15 ± 0.6 mg/dl) (101.66 ± 53.04 μmol/l). AKI was observed in 36 patients (41.86%) on the third day of iloprost infusion. Logistic regression analysis revealed smoking and not using acetylsalicylic acid as primary predictors (p = 0.02 and p = 0.008, respectively) of AKI during iloprost treatment. On the third infusion day, patients' urinary output significantly increased (1813.30 ± 1123.46 vs 1545.17 ± 873.00 cm3) and diastolic blood pressure significantly decreased (70.07 ± 15.50 vs 74.14 ± 9.42 mmHg) from their initial values. Conclusion While iloprost treatment is effective in patients with PAD who are not suitable for surgery, severe systemic vasodilatation can cause renal ischaemia, resulting in nonoliguric AKI. Smoking, no acetylsalicylic acid use, and lower diastolic blood pressure are the clinical risk factors for AKI during iloprost treatment.


Oxford Essential Dictionary gives all the essential help and information elementary and pre-intermediate learners need. Updated with 200 NEW words, Oxford Essential Dictionary includes over 24,000 words, phrases, and meanings. 2,000 of the most important words in English are marked as keywords, so students know which words to learn first. Notes give extra help with grammar, pronunciation, and spelling. The CD-ROM includes the full dictionary, Picture Dictionary, exam preparation (KET) exercises, language games, a Speaking Dictionary, and NEW iGuide, an interactive tutorial to help students explore dictionary entries.


Climate model simulations of past and future climate invariably contain prescribed zonal mean stratospheric ozone. While the effects of zonal asymmetry in ozone have been examined in the Northern Hemisphere, much greater zonal asymmetry occurs in the Southern Hemisphere during the break up of the Antarctic ozone hole. We prescribe a realistic three‐dimensional distribution of ozone in a high vertical resolution atmospheric model and compare results with a simulation containing zonal mean ozone. Prescribing the three dimensional ozone distribution results in a cooling of the stratosphere and upper troposphere comparable to that caused by ozone depletion itself. Our results suggest that changes in the zonal asymmetry of ozone have had important impacts on Southern Hemisphere climate, and will continue to do so in the future.


In the following article I will deal with one of Isaiah's prophecies, Isaiah 11:11–16, whose date is debated. In this article, I will concur that the prophecy is not original to Isaiah, nor was there an early Isaianic core that was expanded in later periods. Other scholars suggested different dates for the prophecy, ranging from the reign of Josiah at the end of the Assyrian rule in the Levant until the Hasmonean Period. I will forward a different historical setting to the oracle than the hitherto given options. According to this understanding, the oracle was composed in the mid-7th century BCE and reflects the political situation during the reigns of Ashurbanipal, King of Assyria, and Manasseh, King of Judah, respectively.


The introduction of M-Code to the GPS signal structure can redefine the accuracy of the broadcast ephemeris. Existing ephemeris generation systems use dual frequency observations, obtained through the tracking of existing precise codes on the LI and L2 frequencies. These codes are modulated using Binary Phase Shift Key (BPSK) modulation. The modernization signal M-Code is modulated using Binary Offset Carrier (BOC) modulation. In this study pseudorange observables derived from the tracking of M-Code are proven to have greater accuracy than those from existing precise codes, given equivalent receiver designs and operating conditions. In addition, the error due to specular multipath is derived. These general models of noise and multipath can be applied to any BOC modulated signals, including Galileo and QZSS. When applied to M-Code, the models predict that the maximum multipath error in the pseudorange is reduced in magnitude by 50% compared to the existing precise codes. However the range of multipath delays for which M-Code observables exhibit multipath is approximately twice that associated with existing precise BPSK codes. Much like other precise applications of GPS, some ephemeris generation processes use the ionosphere free combination and carrier phase smoothing of the pseudorange to form smoothed pseudoranges. The smoothed pseudoranges are then input as measurements to an ephemeris filter. The analytic models of multipath error in the pseudorange and carrier phase observables are applied to predict errors in the smoothed pseudorange. Multipath error, amplified by ionosphere free combination, causes a bias in the smoothed pseudorange when parameterized as a function of multipath delay. There are conditions under which the bias is zero mean, and in those conditions multipath is suppressed. The solution of carrier phase multipath for BOC modulated signals contains a feature not seen in the BPSK solution. There are multipath delays for which the carrier phase multipath is identically zero regardless of the multipath phase. The zero carrier phase multipath condition may be the most promising feature associated with observables derived from BOC modulated codes.


This paper presents a new, high-performance SOI-MEMS gyroscope with decoupled oscillation modes. The gyroscope structure allows to achieve matched-resonance-frequencies, large drive-mode oscillation amplitude, high sense-mode quality factor, and low mechanical crosstalk, demonstrating a measured noise-equivalent rate of 90 (deg/hr)/Hz1/2even at atmospheric pressure. The angular rate sensitivity of the gyroscope is 100 µ V/(deg/sec) at atmospheric pressure. This value improves to 2.4mV/(deg/sec) at vacuum, for which the measured noise-equivalent rate of the gyroscope reaches to 35 (deg/hr)/Hz1/2. The R2-nonlinearity of the gyroscope is measured to be better than 0.02%. The gyroscope has a low quadrature signal of 70deg/sec and a short-term bias stability of 1.5deg/sec.


Career Choice and Development-Duane Brown 2002-10-08 The fourth edition of Career Choice and Development brings together the most current ideas of the recognized authorities in the field of career development. This classic bestseller has been thoroughly revised and expanded to include the most influential theories of career choice and development, and it contains up-todate information regarding the application of these theories to counseling practice. This edition contains a wide range of career development theories that explore how people develop certain traits, personalities, selfprecepts, and how these developments influence career decision making. This information will challenge teachers, researchers, and those involved in fostering career development to reexamine their assumptions and practices.


Abstract The historical deforestation of the Upper Brahmaputra Valley in the Indian state of Assam has resulted in the transformation of its once-contiguous lowland rainforests into many isolated forest fragments that are still rich in species, including primates. We report the recent history and current status of six diurnal primates in one large (2,098 ha) and three small (<500 ha) fragments of the Upper Brahmaputra Valley. We censused primates in the small fragments during 2002, 2005, 2009, in the large fragment in 2008, and used other published census data to derive population trends. We also used key informant surveys to obtain historical occurrence data for these populations. Our analyses reveal the recent extinction of some populations and the simultaneous long-term persistence of others in these fragments over 16 years. Most populations appeared to have declined in the small fragments but primate abundance has increased significantly in the largest fragment over the last decade. Addressing the biomass needs of the local human populations, which appears to drive habitat degradation, and better protection of these forests, will be crucial in ensuring the future survival of this diverse and unique primate assemblage in the last rainforest fragments of the human-dominated Upper Brahmaputra Valley.


South Africa is facing an energy supply dilemma, firstly from an overall cost point of view and secondly, from a reliability of supply perspective. For the South African consumer, the cost of electricity has increased 169% over a ten-year period and most of that increase has taken place in the last five years. With technology such as solar readily available one has to ask why we are not seeing a higher adoption rate in South Africa. This book takes a look at some of the factors that are influencing this slow rate of adoption specifically in the roof top solar market.


Engineering Electromagnetics and Waves is designed for upper-division college and university engineering students, for those who wish to learn the subject through self-study, and for practicing engineers who need an up-to-date reference text. The student using this text is assumed to have completed typical lower-division courses in physics and mathematics as well as a first course on electrical engineering circuits. This book provides engineering students with a solid grasp of electromagnetic fundamentals and electromagnetic waves by emphasizing physical understanding and practical applications. The topical organization of the text starts with an initial exposure to transmission lines and transients on high-speed distributed circuits, naturally bridging electrical circuits and electromagnetics. Teaching and Learning Experience This program will provide a better teaching and learning experience-for you and your students. It provides: *Modern Chapter Organization*Emphasis on Physical Understanding*Detailed Examples, Selected Application Examples, and Abundant Illustrations*Numerous End-of-chapter Problems, Emphasizing Selected Practical Applications*Historical Notes on the Great Scientific Pioneers*Emphasis on Clarity without Sacrificing Rigor and Completeness*Hundreds of Footnotes Providing Physical Insight, Leads for Further Reading, and Discussion of Subtle and Interesting Concepts and Applications


The fourth issue of Continuum is not the publication we originally intended. Modern computer technology makes it possible to engage with desktop publishing and in fact opens up an enormous range of possibilities in publication. However, as we have discovered for desktop publishing to be successful it requires boundless enthusiasm, commitment, vast amounts of time and endless patience. When these requirements come into conflict with normal regimes - work, home, family - something has to give - usually the publishing. Consequently, Continuum is often late - and for this we apologise. Further, it is sometimes not possible to adhere to our original schedule of publications. A possible solution to these problems could be to hand over Continuum to an institutional publisher. However, we think this would diminish the journal. In constructing the index for Volumes 1 and 2, we were struck by the quality and diversity of contributions to the journal, indicating, for us at least, its success and vitality which we plan to maintain through desktop publishing.

Although we could not present a fully integrated thematic issue on performance we do present a number of important articles that address performance. Augmenting these is a group of articles that address theoretical issues. In addition we maintain the Australian media section. The configuration of articles offered here makes for a stimulating edition of Continuum.

Finally, in the editorial to the previous issue of Continuum we promised a review of Ian Douglas's Film & Meaning. Unfortunately we have to hold this over until the next issue. However, we do offer reviews of a number of significant books, including a review article.

Manic Exposeur in Melbourne (PO Box 39, World Trade Centre, Melbourne, 3005) are our distributors in bookshops - we will continue to handle subscriptions.

It is, in conclusion, worthwhile restating our philosophy: Continuum is a media journal with a screen studies inflection. The word media is chosen to reflect an interest not only in film and TV but also in closely related media such as radio and the visual arts. As editors of an Australian media journal we propose to concentrate upon those things which can best be done from Australia. We are thus interested in making an effective contribution to: the study of the history and practice of film, TV and visual culture in Australasia, Asia and Oceania; the development of film and media theory; and to the exploration of connections between different media - particularly film, TV, theatre and the visual arts. Additionally we will be trying to represent the state of media and cultural studies scholarship in Australia.


Lignocellulose is one of the most abundant carbon sources in nature. This naturally-occuring substance is an underutilized source of bioenergy. A major bottleneck in biofuel processing is the enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulose into its ultimate fermentable product, glucose. Cellulomonas fimi is a well-studied soil organism known for its capabilities to efficiently hydrolyze cellulose. Recently sequenced genomes of Cellulomonas fimi and Cellulomonas flavigena have allowed analysis to reveal previously unidentified cellulases from several glycoside hydrolase (GH) families. This study also includes the expression of secreted cellulases from families GH 5, 6, and 9 at the protein level by the native organism after growth in media supplemented with carboxymethylcellulose or soluble xylan. In order to find enzymes with novel qualities, the cloning and expression of these newly identified cellulases from C. fimi and C. flavigena were done. One of these enzymes is Celf_1230 (Cel6C), a putative cellobiohydrolase from the glycoside hydrolase family 6. Using substituted cellulose derivatives as substrates, we have characterized Celf_1230 to be a thermostable enzyme with endoglucanase activity.


This one-volume history of the Roman world begins with the early years of the republic and carries the story nearly a thousand years forward to 476, when Romulus Augustus, the last Western Roman emperor, was deposed. Brian Campbell, respected scholar and teacher, presents a fascinating and wide-ranging introduction to Rome, drawing on an array of ancient sources and covering topics of interest to readers with little prior background in Roman history as well as those already familiar with the great civilization. Campbell explores several themes, including the fall of the republic, the impact of colorful and diverse emperors on imperial politics, the administrative structure of empire, and the Roman army and how warfare affected the Roman world. He also surveys cultural and social life, including religion and the rise of Christianity. Generously enhanced with maps and illustrations, this book is a rich and inspiring account of a mighty civilization and the citizens who made it so.


This article draws on a phenomenological study of understanding six early adopters' successful online shopping experiences. Narratives of their online purchasing experiences suggest that learning to trust e-tailers is a complex process that is shaped by factors such as self-identity, risk awareness, and technical and brand knowledge. This article summarises the first part of the findings from this study – the strategies the six participants used to gain trust with e-tailers to overcome their distrust of purchasing online. These strategies included checking payment security, gaining product information, checking the ordering process, using brand knowledge, asking friends for advice, using expert referrals, and assessing website structure, functionality and image. The findings suggest that technical and/or brand knowledge best explain the methods that these participants used to trust e-tailers because it provided them with a greater sense of comfort to purchase online. As with offline marketing contexts, this research suggests that credibility and benevolence are two important underlying dimensions of online trust. However, due to the distrustful environment of e-commerce, honesty may be an important separate dimension of online trust.


In 1987 horrific tales of organ theft that had been circulating in Central and South America for years caught the attention of the international media. Soon reports came from all over the planet, rising to a crescendo in the late 1990s. Veronique Campion-Vincent describes these narratives in detail and classifies them as three basic types: the Baby Parts Story, Eye Thieves, and Kidney Heists. She then recounts the social problems that seemed to make these awful legends plausible--trade in human organs bought from the living poor; advances in modern medicine which seemed to blur the lines between life and death; the ills of poverty in the developing world and its consequences; international adoption and real human trafficking. Religious and moral authorities, political campaigners, propagandists, and the media all exploited the legends of organ theft according to their specific agendas. Campion-Vincent reviews the explanations offered by authorities, reporters, and anthropologists and offers her own folklore analysis pointing out the similarities between organ theft stories and the perennial tale of the Slaughter of the Innocents. Noting the real trials of everyday life in much of the Third World and documented cases of illegal trafficking in organs, corpses, and children, Campion-Vincent does not dismiss these tales as just another example of urban legends run amok. Instead, she offers a nuanced analysis of the connections between traditional horror tales, modern trends, and real events to show how complicated it can be to know the truth of any particular story. These legends still circulate, and variations remain commonplace throughout the world. Campion-Vincent notes, sadly, that the social problems that paralleled the rise of organ theft narratives persist today. Veronique Campion-Vincent of Paris, France, works at the Maison des Sciences de L'Homme. She has published numerous books in French and articles in French and English on contemporary legends.


In this paper, a photonic-assisted multi-channel compressive sampling scheme is proposed with one pseudo-random binary sequence (PRBS) source and Wavelength Division Multiplexing-based time delay. Meanwhile, the restricted isometry property of sensing matrix determined by the optimized time delay pattern is analyzed. In experiment, a four-channel photonic-assisted system with 5-GHz bandwidth was set up, where four-channel PRBS signals were generated by adding fiber-induced constant time delays to four-wavelength modulated PRBS signal, and a signal composed of twenty tones was recovered faithfully with four analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) with only 120-MHz-bandwidth.


Before he found fame as the father of Pop Art, Andy Warhol was an accomplished advertising illustrator and commercial artist for fashion tastemakers such as Barney's, Neiman Marcus, I. Miller, Glamour, Mademoiselle, and Harper's Bazaar, This delicately beautiful, colorfully playful, and hugely influential fashion illustration work from the 1950s has never before been collected in a book. A pop object in itself, Andy Warhol Fashion is a fun and gorgeous gallery of hundreds of his most delightful images. These witty drawings -- fanciful shoes, chic hats, smart suits, and perfect accessories to match -- showcase his unique ability to find inspiration in the everyday and elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary. Sprinkled with Warhol's perceptively funny observations (When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums.), and a reflection on Warhol's influence in the fashion world by Simon Doonan, Andy Warhol Fashion is a must-have acquisition for anyone with style.


The analysis of speech, particularly for emotional content, is an open area of current research. Ongoing work has developed an emotional speech corpus for analysis, and defined a vowel stress method by which this analysis may be performed. This paper documents the development of LinguaTag, an open source speech analysis software application which implements this vowel stress emotional speech analysis method developed as part of research into the acoustic and linguistic correlates of emotional speech. The analysis output is contained within a file format combining SMIL and SSML markup tags, to facilitate search and retrieval methods within an emotional speech corpus database. In this manner, analysis performed using LinguaTag aims to combine acoustic, emotional and linguistic descriptors in a single metadata framework.


Rien ne va plus. These words by Advocate General R. J. Colomer at the outset of his Placanica opinion left no doubts: it was time the highest court in Europe did its job, and provided clarifications for what had become a remarkably obfuscated environment for the gambling and sport betting industry. His prophetic words resonated with all involved stakeholders in ensuing years. Carmen Media and Engelmann are the latest in a series of many cases handled by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on matters dealing with gambling, sport betting practices, and member states' traditionally-established monopolies. EU Law application on these cases has been problematic and fairly inconsistent among national courts and the ECJ itself. In an era where online gaming, in particular, is rapidly growing into a larger share of the gambling industry, and considering the ease of access and multitude of products, services, and transactions involved, the ECJ, European Commission, and national governments are toiling over the most prudent, balanced, and practical approach and policy directions for the future of the industry in Europe. In this process, the burgeoning industry has been able to lobby and cooperate with political, regulatory, and key legal actors in order to promote interests of the rapidly expanding number of gaming providers. As per European Gaming and Betting Association's rich vault of resources, there has been an extensive educational effort about the industry's new players, private operators competing with traditionally established (usually) state-actors or state-supported and/or affiliated exclusive rights holders and monopolies maintained by European state governments. This has been a "myth-busting" exercise, as well as a profound and elaborate research effort on the part of the industry's private gaming sector, considering how deeply ingrained certain conceptions of gambling and betting have been for centuries, i.e. that gambling is morally reprehensible, that gambling is intimately tied to corruption, fraud, money laundering, criminal elements of society and organised crime networks reaping most of the revenue from it, as opposed to regulated gaming and betting on sport for the benefit of the state, generating revenue which will automatically flow back into the grassroots and the game, on which the betting activity is based. It is reported that both state-run gambling monopolies and private operators are experiencing approximately a 70% growth between 2008-2012, and given the global recession, the fact this number is considered slow progress for industry standards is astounding. In an eerie coincidence, these most recent ECJ decisions were reached on the one-year anniversary of the Liga Portuguesa judgment by the ECJ's Grand Chamber, September 8th 2009, a day that delivered a significant blow to the private gaming sector, until Carmen Media, decided on September 8th, 2010. Carmen Media and Engelmann followed a group of other ECJ judgments in June and July 2010, in great part confirming dicta in Liga Portuguesa on challenges that dealt with monopolies and restrictive policies in the Netherlands and Sweden (Betfair and Ladbrokes; Otto Sjoberg and Anders Gerdin v. Swedish State respectively). This timing was three years removed from the Placanica decision by the ECJ, which was then believed to be strong confirmation that there is a clear turn toward liberalisation of the gambling sector in Europe, and against preservation of state monopolies; indeed, as will be elaborated below, Placanica followed the expected progress of legal theory and EU Law application, emanating from several cases that led to Placanica at the time. The most recent cases of the busy 2010 docket came 18 years following Schindler, the first case the ECJ had the opportunity to hear and decide on related issues. What have we learnt in the process of these two decades of litigation and policy challenges? Has there truly been a dramatic shift in the way European institutions, courts, legislators, and citizens approach the exciting, yet 'immoral' subject of gambling? Can sport betting enterprises now freely roam the services market of the European Union? Can member states still run lotteries and betting monopolies in exclusion of competitors, embracing the revenue accrued, chastising the 'corrupt' competition, and justify the means under EU Law? Is the gambling market yet another 'failed' aspect of European integration, destined to be endlessly epitomised by procedural entanglement, lack of political will, conflicts between member states, and inability or reluctance of European collective bodies to assume initiatives and resolve these conflicts, promoting the European Treaty's purposes as revisited by the Treaty of Lisbon? Or could it just be that gambling, twisted as it may be, is in the forefront of a common market realisation? These and other questions are entertained by this chapter, one that aspires to unveil certain important concepts from past legal and policy developments in this exhilarating and controversial field. Additionally, this investigation prepares the reader for the ensuing chapters in this valuable contribution and volume of collected works by summarising the important jurisprudence that led to the reality of a regulated and competitive 2011 market.To answer the questions posed above, this chapter will focus on the legal framework of gambling and sport betting in the European Union, the application of EU Law in what has become a very competitive and lucrative sport betting industry, the evolution of ECJ jurisprudence on the matter, and the ramifications for future policy developments in this controversial sector of EU business. Putting things in perspective, the Study of Gambling Services in the Internal Market of the European Union , composed by the Swiss Institute for Comparative Law (with the significant strategic approach of outsourcing to the Salford Business School Centre for the Study of Gambling: at the request of the European Commission (EC), reveals interesting findings. For example, whereas in the US the total revenue from gambling (Gross Gaming Revenue or GGR, as used in the study) was calculated at approximately €60.7 billion for 2003, the respective GGR for the EU was €51.5 billion. Interestingly, considering the regulatory differences between the US and the EU, US betting services, including on-track and off-track betting on horses and sports, amounted to only 5% of US GGR, while in the EU, the comparable statistic was 17% of the EU total (Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, 2006, p. 37). This study extended for more than 1,500 pages, and concluded an all-encompassing research effort spanning the course of two years preceding its publication in the Summer of 2006. The timing could not have been more opportune, as the ECJ decision in Gambelli (C-243/01) was already available and under discussion, whilst the deliberations over Placanica (C-338/04) were under way, after the Advocate General's bold and drastic recommendations, which will be elaborated below. This chapter commences with fundamental legal principles involved in the governance of the EU gambling and sport betting industry, such as the principle of subsidiarity and pertinent articles from the Treaty of Lisbon (amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, 2007/C 306/01) and the Treaty on the functioning of the EU, 9.5.2008, C-115/47 et seq. (hereinafter: EC Treaty). The examination will continue with ECJ case law on the matter, leading to the important decisions in Gambelli, Lindman, Placanica, Italian Republic, Liga Portuguesa, Betfair, Ladbrokes, Carmen Media, and Engelmann, which encompassed a legal maelstrom that needs to be investigated for future national courts' application. In addition, the chapter briefly examines the contribution of the European Ombudsman in regard to complaints from adversely affected sport betting operators against the EC's handling of such cases, combined with recent policy developments and member states' case law, the controversy about the Services' Directive, and the EC inquiries into restrictive practices of EU member states (MS). Finally, an analysis of the present situation in EU gambling and sport betting after the recent ECJ decisions will be attempted, via scenarios from primary (national MS practices, policies, and case law) and secondary (Swiss Institute of Comparative Law, 2006; European Gaming and Betting Association, 2010; GamingLaw.eu, 2010) research.


Stereopsis is the process of seeing depth constructed from binocular disparity. The human ability to perceive modulation of disparity over space (Tyler, 1974; Prince and Rogers, 1998; Banks et al., 2004a) and time (Norcia and Tyler, 1984) is surprisingly poor, compared with the ability to detect spatial and temporal modulation of luminance contrast. In order to examine the physiological basis of this poor spatial and temporal resolution of stereopsis, I quantified responses to disparity modulation in disparity selective V1 neurons from four awake behaving monkeys.

To study the physiological basis of the spatial resolution of stereopsis, I characterized the three-dimensional structure of 55 V1 receptive fields (RF) using random dot stereograms in which disparity varied as a sinusoidal function of vertical position ("corrugations"). At low spatial frequencies, this produced a modulation in neuronal firing at the temporal frequency of the stimulus. As the spatial frequency increased, the modulation reduced. The mean response rate changed little, and was close to that produced by a uniform stimulus at the mean disparity of the corrugation. In 48/55 (91%) of the neurons, the modulation strength was a lowpass function of spatial frequency. These results suggest that the neurons have fronto-parallel planar receptive fields, no disparity-based surround inhibition and no selectivity for disparity gradients. This scheme predicts a relationship between RF size and the high frequency cutoff. Comparison with independent measurements of RF size was compatible with this. All of this behavior closely matches the binocular energy model, which functionally corresponds to cross-correlation: the disparity modulated activity of the binocular neuron measures the correlation between the filtered monocular images.

To examine the physiological basis of the temporal resolution of stereopsis, I measured for 59 neurons the temporal frequency tuning with random dot stereograms in which disparity varied as a sinusoidal function of time. Temporal frequency tuning in response to disparity modulation was not correlated with temporal frequency tuning in response to contrast modulation, and had lower temporal frequency high cutoffs on average. The temporal frequency high cut for disparity modulation was negatively correlated with the response latency, the speed of the response onset and the temporal integration time (slope of the line relating response phase and temporal frequency). Binocular cross-correlation of the monocular images after bandpass filtering can explain all these results.

Average peak temporal frequency in response to disparity modulation was 2Hz, similar to the values I found in four human observers (1.5-3Hz). The mean cutoff spatial frequency, 0.5 cpd, was similar to equivalent measures of decline in human psychophysical sensitivity for such depth corrugations as a function of frequency (Tyler, 1974; Prince and Rogers, 1998; Banks et al., 2004a).

This suggests that the human temporal and spatial resolution for stereopsis is limited by selectivity of V1 neurons. For both, space and time, the lower resolution for disparity modulation than for contrast modulation can be explained by a single mechanism, binocular cross-correlation of the monocular images. The findings also represent a significant step towards understanding the process by which neurons solve the stereo correspondence problem (Julesz, 1971).


The aim of this thesis is to examine the specific contextual factors affecting the applicability and development of the planning, programming, budgeting system (P.P.B.S.) as a systems approach to public sector budgeting. The concept of P.P.B.S. as a systems approach to public sector budgeting will first be developed and the preliminary hypothesis that general contextual factors may be classified under political, structural and cognitive headings will be put forward. This preliminary hypothesis will be developed and refined using American and early British experience. The refined hypothesis will then be tested in detail in the case of the English health and personal social services (H.P.S.S.), The reasons for this focus are that it is the most recent, the sole remaining, and the most significant example in British central government outside of defence, and is fairly representative of non-defence government programme areas. The method of data collection relies on the examination of unpublished and difficult to obtain central government, health and local authority documents, and interviews with senior civil servants and public officials. The conclusion will be that the political constraints on, or factors affecting P.P.B.S., vary with product characteristics and cultural imperatives on pluralistic decision-making; that structural constraints vary with the degree of coincidence of programme and organisation structure and with the degree of controllability of the organisation; and finally, that cognitive constraints vary according to product characteristics, organisational responsibilities, and analytical effort.


In later stages of retinal degenerative diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa stem cell therapy can be the only viable treatment option due to the loss of photoreceptor and RPE cells. Differentiation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) towards the desired lineage explicitly requires a microenvironment that mimics the natural tissue that it is intended to regenerate. Developing a planar 3D retinal graft derived from ESCs can be transplanted to treat various retinal degeneration diseases. Our aim was to explore the differentiation and growth of ESCs on a gelatinous scaffold in order to transplant into a retinitis pigmentosa mouse model (RD10). Our aim was to evaluate the transplanted graft for host inflammatory response, stem cell integration, cell survival, and tumorigenesis. The transplanted graft was also compared to injection of a homogenous photoreceptor cell population into the subretinal space of the RD10 mouse model. A biocompatible gelatinous scaffold was developed in order to support the differentiation of a multilayered retinal structure. ESCs were seeded onto the scaffold for proliferation and differentiation in the vicinity of retinal pigment epithelium cells. Cultures were analyzed for differentiation by qRT-PCR and immunofluorescence confocal microscopy. The graft was transplanted into the subretinal space to examine biocompatibility and retinal progenitor cell integration into the native mouse retina. ESCs migrated through the 60μm thickness of the scaffold and differentiated into the retinal progenitor cells as evidenced by qRT-PCR and immunohistochesmistry. In-vivo testing analyzed on 1, 3 and 6 week showed scaffold degradation by the 6 week. The gelatinous scaffold supported the differentiation of ESCs to RPCs and minimal inflammatory response was seen post transplantation.


Introduction Trichomonas vaginalis is the commonest curable sexually transmitted infection worldwide. Diagnosis is by detecting Trichomonas organisms or its DNA. Sensitivity of microscopy in females is 45–60%. Culture has a higher sensitivity than microscopy but molecular detection offers the highest sensitivity and is considered gold standard. We currently use only microscopy and this may lead to false negatives. This study assesses sensitivity and cost-effectiveness of TV NAAT assay compared with microscopy and acridine orange (AO) staining in symptomatic female patients. Methods Prospective study looking at symptomatic female patients attending sexual health clinic during the period from 05/10/2015 to 17/05/2016.Female patients with one or more of the following symptoms; vulval soreness, itchiness, ulceration or abnormal discharge were included. Wet microscopy was performed and dried slide was sent to the lab for AO staining. TV NAAT was added to the Chlamydia/Gonorrhoea dual testing swab. Results 452 patients were included. Age ranged from 14–65 years. 31,18 and 8 patients had positive NAAT, microscopy and AO respectively. Considering NAAT as the gold standard; sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of microscopy and AO was 48%, 100%, 100%, 95% and 28%, 100%, 100%, 94% respectively. 51.6% of the cases would have been missed if only the microscopy was used to diagnose TV. Discussion Overall prevalence of TV positivity in our study population was 7.52%.Microscopy provided the advantage of rapid result but failed to identify half the positives.TV NAAT testing in carefully selected symptomatic women will be of value to provide better patient care.


Abstract Obesity is an increasing global health problem. Although it is mainly thought to be due to the changing obesogenic environment, the genetic contribution has been estimated between 40–70%. A number of genes have been identified that cause obesity in animals as well as in humans. Rare highly penetrant monogenic forms of obesity can cause both syndromal and non-syndromal forms of obesity. Bardet-Biedl syndrome and Alström syndrome are well known monogenic obesity syndromes caused by primary cilia defects. The pathogenesis of the obesity phenotype in these disorders is however not fully understood. Disturbance of the appetite regulation system, abnormalities in body composition and decreased energy expenditure have been suggested to cause obesity in these ciliopathies. There are currently 19 known genes associated with Bardet-Biedl syndrome and one Alström syndrome gene. Although ciliopathy genes have been described primarily in these syndromal obesity disorders, non-syndromal obesity may also result from disturbed cilia function. There are multiple genes associated with both obesity and ciliary function. Here we provide an overview of the current knowledge of the clinical, pathophysiological and genetic aspects of obesity in patients with ciliary defects.


Abstract. The global mean OH concentration ([OH]GM) has been used as an indicator of the atmospheric oxidizing efficiency and its changes over time. It is also used for evaluating the performance of atmospheric chemistry models by comparing with other models or with observationally-based reference [OH]GM levels. We contend that the treatment of this quantity in the recent literature renders it problematic for either of these purposes. Several different methods have historically been used to compute [OH]GM: weighting by atmospheric mass or volume, or by the reaction with CH4 or CH3CCl3. In addition, these have been applied over different domains to represent the troposphere. While it is clear that this can lead to inconsistent [OH]GM values, to date there has been no careful assessment of the differences expected when [OH]GM is computed using various weightings and domains. Here these differences are considered using four different 3D OH distributions, along with the weightings mentioned above applied over various atmospheric domains. We find that the [OH]GM values computed based on a given distribution but using different domains for the troposphere can result in differences of 10% or more, while different weightings can lead to differences of up to 30%, comparable to the uncertainty which is commonly stated for [OH]GM or its trend. Thus, at present comparing [OH]GM values from different studies does not provide clearly interpretable information about whether the OH amounts are actually similar or not, except in the few cases where the same weighting and domain have been used in both studies. We define the atmospheric oxidizing efficiency of OH with respect to a given gas as the inverse of the lifetime of that gas, and show that this is directly proportional to the [OH]GM value weighted by the reaction with that gas, where the proportionality constant depends on the temperature distribution and the domain. We find that the airmass-weighted and volume-weighted [OH]GM values, in contrast, are generally poor indicators of the global atmospheric oxidizing efficiency with respect to gases such as CH4 and CH3CCl3 with a strong temperature dependence in their reaction with OH. We recommend that future studies provide both the airmass-weighted and the CH4-reaction-weighted [OH]GM values, over the domain from the surface to a climatological tropopause. The combination of these values helps to reduce the chance of coincidental agreement between very different OH distributions. Serious evaluations of modeled OH concentrations would best be done with airmass-weighted [OH]GM broken down into atmospheric sub-compartments, especially focusing on the tropics, where the atmospheric oxidizing efficiency is the greatest for most gases.


Crowding chemicals influence a wide variety of life history traits in zooplankton communities. In the rotifer Brachionus, sexual reproduction (mixis) is induced by a chemical signal produced by the rotifers that accumulates during population growth. The specificity of the reaction to the mixis induction signal could play a central role in maintaining reproductive barriers between closely related sympatric species. Using cross‐induction assays between different species, we tested whether this signal has diversified in the Brachionus plicatilis species complex. We found that closely related, as well as more distant species in this complex, could induce mixis in each other. This suggests that there are no species barriers in sex induction and that the mixis signal did not diversify for several million years during the evolution of the Brachionus plicatilis complex. This apparent stasis is remarkable because pre‐ and postmating isolation is common in this species complex and, due to its cosmopolitan distribution, species often occur in sympatry.


Background: There is concern about the prevalence of neuromyths in education, but little is known about how teachers think about the brain and how this may influence their practice. Aim: To further understanding of how teachers, at entry to the profession, think about brain development and function. Sample: 158 graduate trainee teachers at the end of their one-year course. Methods: Preliminary semi-structured interviews contributed to the development of a suitable survey instrument. Participants were then surveyed during one of their final lectures. Results: Trainees" ideas reflected misconceptions in public circulation and notions promoted by popular brain-based educational programmes. Most of the trainee teachers in our survey did not accept, or were unsure, about whether mental activity derives from biological brain function. Trainee teachers place equal importance on home environment and education as determinants of educational outcome, with genetics a significant but smaller influence than either. A follow up survey with a new cohort of trainees confirmed that constructs about development are linked to a sense of agency, with beliefs in strong genetic influence associated with stronger notions of biologically-defined limits on pupil achievement. Conclusions: In the absence of formal training, trainee teachers acquire their own ideas about brain function, many of which are potentially detrimental to their practice as teachers. Neuroscience Literacy 3


Ammonia is a reactive trace gas that is emitted in large quantities by animal agriculture and other sources in California, which subsequently forms aerosol particulate matter, potentially affecting visibility, climate, and human health. We performed initial measurements of NH{sub 3} at the Blodgett Forest Research Station (BFRS) during a 3 week study in June, 2006. The site is used for ongoing air quality research and is a relatively low-background site in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Measured NH{sub 3} mixing ratios were quite low (< 1 to {approx}2 ppb), contrasting with typical conditions in many parts of the Central Valley. Eddy covariance measurements showed NH{sub 3} fluxes that scaled with measured NH{sub 3} mixing ratio and calculated aerodynamic deposition velocity, suggesting dry deposition is a significant loss mechanism for atmospheric NH{sub 3} at BFRS. A simple model of NH{sub 3} transport to the site supports the hypothesis that NH{sub 3} is transported from the Valley to BFRS, but deposits on vegetation during the summer. Further work is necessary to determine whether the results obtained in this study can be generalized to other seasons.


The centrality of evaluation has been investigated mainly in genre studies, pragmatics, discourse analysis, and text linguistics as, for example, in: Aijmer (2005), Mauranen (2004), Stubbs (2001), and Swales (2004). The starting point for this study is a simple consideration of genre, that is, research article abstract as an evaluative genre per definition (Bhatia 1993 and Swales 1990). Academic writing is as rhetorical as any other genre; no matter how technical and apparently detached a scientific paper might appear, its discourse is designed to convince readers of the objectivity of its methods and the reliability of its findings. The present study focuses on evaluative language, in particular, Research-Oriented Evaluation (ROE) as defined by Tethela (1997). Corpus data have been collected for the purpose of verifying some discourse characteristic of evaluation in a specific genre. The corpus used, the RAA corpus, is made up of article abstracts from three international peerreviewed journals: Mathematics and Computers in Simulation, International Journal of Primatology, Proteins: Structure, Function, and Bioinformatics. Through a collocational analysis, I have attempted to investigate the linguistic resources of a precise type of evaluation that occurs in the proximity of specific words, defined in this study as 'research process words'. The value system of the scientific discourse community is thought to prefer impersonal discourse with no explicit evaluation (Mauranen 2004, p. 116) but through metaphoric terms (Halliday 1994) and expressed implicitly by non-human actors. One of the chief functions of abstracts is to persuade the reader of the validity of the writer's claims, and to accomplish this, the work of the author(s) and of other researchers is constantly evaluated along the text distribution. Results of the present analysis support the hypotheses that evaluation is genre specific and that an evaluative lexis uses a specific phraseology.


The federal False Claims Act (FCA) is the government's primary weapon to combat fraud. It empowers the federal government to file actions against those alleged to have knowingly submitted false or fraudulent claims to the government. Since 1986, the Department of Justice has recovered more than $15 billion under the law.


In this paper, a computational, mixed methods approach that combines qualitative analysis with a novel approach to sequence analysis for studying the entanglement of human activities and digital capabilities in organizational routines is described. The approach is scalable across multiple contexts and complements the dominant idiographic modes of sociomaterial inquiry. The approach is rooted in the epistemology of a "rational reconstruction" consistent with the interpretive stance underlying the sociomaterial position. It arms researchers with the means to seek and uncover regularities in the ways human activities and digital capabilities become entangled across contexts by enabling the identification and articulation of generalizable patterns of sociomaterial activity. The computational approach is founded on sequence-analytic techniques that originated from the field of computational biology (genetics), but are now gaining popularity in the study of temporally ordered social phenomena such as organizational routines. These techniques are extended by drawing upon theoretical insights gained within sociomaterial scholarship on how the digital and the social become entangled. By detecting the variation in activities, actors, artifacts, and affordances that comprise what we denote a sociomaterial routine, the approach directly attends to ways in which human actors and the material features of technology become entangled in patterns of practice. Beyond motivating and describing the approach, the different insights that researchers can generate through its application in the study of the digitalization of organizational routines are illustrated. We conclude by suggesting several lines of inquiry that can enrich sociomaterial research.


Pseudomonas exotoxin A (PE) linked to the F(ab')2 fragment of 1H10, a murine monoclonal antibody recognizing a carbohydrate epitope of a glycoconjugate expressed on the surface of human cervical carcinoma tumor cells, was evaluated for in vitro and in vivo activity. PE can kill cells by ADP-ribosylating elongation factor 2 thus inhibiting protein synthesis. Disulfide- as well as thioether-linked immunotoxins (1H10-PE) killed cervical carcinoma cells in vitro and were 20-160 times more inhibitory to target than to control cells. Cell killing was antibody mediated as demonstrated by the reduction of 1H10-PE growth inhibition to target CaSki cells by free 1H10 F(ab')2. In addition, a control antibody immunotoxin was nontoxic to CaSki cells. Thioether-linked 1H10-PE administered either i.v. or i.p. suppressed the growth of established solid s.c. cervical carcinoma tumors xenografted in nude mice for over 30 days. Treatment with antibody alone or a control immunotoxin had no significant effect on tumor growth. Administration of immunotoxin i.p. was associated with less toxicity than administration i.v., but i.v. injections were more effective at suppressing the growth of established solid tumors.


As a chromophore closely related to dipyrromethene (DPM), the azadipyrromethene (ADPM) family has attracted much interest in the life sciences and optoelectronic fields. A high-yielding microwave-assisted synthesis is reported for new homoleptic complexes of cobalt(II), nickel(II), copper(II) and zinc(II) based on the tetrakis(p-methoxyphenyl)azadipyrromethene ligand 1b. These complexes are compared with other homoleptic complexes of the same metal(II) series based on the tetraphenylazadipyrromethene 1a and also with related BF2(+) chelates (Aza-BODIPYs 6a and 6b) for a better understanding of trends arising from substitution of the chelate and/or the electron-donating effect of the p-methoxy substituents. The electrochemical behavior of the new compounds 2b, 3b, and 5b in dichloromethane revealed two pseudoreversible reductions (2b, -1.09 and -1.25 V vs SCE; 3b, -1.05 and -1.29 V; 5b, -1.13 and -1.25 V) followed by a third irreversible process (2b, -1.78 V; 3b, -1.80 V; 5b, -1.77 V) along with two pseudoreversible oxidations (2b, 0.55 and 0.80 V; 3b, 0.56 and 0.80 V; 5b, 0.55 and 0.80 V) followed by two closely spaced irreversible processes (2b, 1.21 and 1.27 V; 3b, 1.21 and 1.28 V; 5b, 1.22 and 1.25 V). On its side, copper(II) homoleptic complex 4b revealed only one pseudoreversible reduction at -0.59 V followed by three irreversible processes at -0.95, -1.54, and -1.74 V, respectively. The oxidation behavior of this complex exhibited two pseudoreversible processes (0.55 and 0.82 V) and two irreversible processes (1.19 and 1.25 V). The redox processes are assigned and discussed in relation to their photophysical properties. X-ray structures for 1b and related copper(II) complex 2b are also discussed.


Introduction Most research universities have established formal patent and licensing policies to facilitate technology transfer. University technology transfer activities have been widely studied. Investigators have evaluated the effect of technology transfer on economic development (Feller, 1994; Feller & Anderson, 1994), formal program structure (Bonaccorsi & Piccaloga, 1994; Rahm, 1994), and satisfaction of program participants (Petrick, 1995). Researchers have also investigated the effect of technology transfer on specific industrial sectors and society as a whole (Fairweather, 1990; Mansfield, 1991, 1995; Marazita, 1991). Technology transfer has been widely touted as the "silver bullet" for sagging industry performance (Huffman & Evenson, 1993). The literature abounds with anecdotal information about the success of specific industry-university collaborations (Godkin, 1988; Barber, 1985; Schriesheim, 1990/91; Scolnick, 1990; Vleggaar, 1991). Common measurement tools to quantify technology transfer success include: (a) the number of patents generated, (b) the ratio of patents to research expenditures, and (c) the monetary return on licensing investments. All of these measures certainly help to describe technology transfer activities. However, inadvertently, such metrics may have affected the development of university policies governing intellectual property. This paper sets forth the following arguments: * For technology transfer to be successful, the university and the industry sponsor must both benefit from the partnership. This means that each should be concerned about the way the partnership affects the other. * Universities that develop an all-inclusive policy for the transfer of intellectual property to industry are myopic. This approach ignores the differences among academic units and, more importantly, the varied needs of the industrial sector. This paper explores the appropriateness of patent and licensing policies across disciplines. The first section identifies commonly held university patent and licensing positions and examines these polices from a historical perspective. The next section of the paper describes how collaborations between university and industry partners can help meet industry's evolving R & D needs. The concept of "breakthrough versus incremental improvement" is then discussed in the third section. This discussion provides the rationale for a differential patenting and licensing policy. The paper concludes with a discussion of a series of patent and licensing guidelines for engineering-based R & D activities. University Technology Transfer Activities Patents are important links in the commercialization chain. University interest in the ownership of intellectual property developed by faculty and staff began in earnest in 1980. The impetus was the Bayh-Dole Act. Under this legislation, intellectual property resulting from research sponsored by the federal government became the property of the university responsible for carrying out the project. With patent ownership, universities began to pursue industry licensees to commercialize their intellectual property. An invention or idea left unprotected by a patent is free for all to use. From a business perspective, a concept or idea has maximum value if it affords a competitive advantage that is not available to others. In other words, the idea is only valued if it can be kept secret or if its use can be restricted. A university, on the other hand, is in the business of idea-generation and -distribution, not idea-protection. In fact, this issue - how and when to disseminate concepts with potential commercial value - is often a major stumbling block to negotiating a contract between the university and its potential industry sponsor. Two cultures, two motivations, two approaches to judging success. Research administrators are charged daily with bringing these two camps together to the benefit - and satisfaction - of all. …


The present article focuses on the (sometimes problematic) relationship between digital information and certain legal fields. Most legal rules developed long before the arrival of the computer and the digital telephone, and these rules are now under considerable strain to adapt. Digital information is rapidly becoming one of the 21st Century's most valuable assets. This raises the question as to whether or not the law is able to adequately protect this phenomenon against the many attacks being launched against it. The present article analyses certain legal fields in this regard, namely privacy, criminal law, and the law of evidence. The world seems suddenly to have woken up to the fact that digital technology might be a mixed blessing, especially as is shown by certain recent incidents relating to privacy in the USA. In order to obtain an "Africa perspective" the legal situation in South Africa is compared to that in Uganda (East Africa) against a background of multilateral treaties that might apply in this regard. An important point to keep in mind while weighing up legal interests is whether the State may attempt to be both neutral umpire (by means of its judicial power) as well as one of the players who want to win (as the executive power, when government information is at stake). A number of recent incidents in which the United States government has been involved seem to indicate that this attempt to sit on two stools at the same time is likely to diminish respect for the government (and its regulatory efforts) amongst the general population. A specific problem with enforcement consists of the international nature of infringements. The Internet knows no borders and this factor suggests that effective international co-operation is an essential prerequisite for the law to function adequately in an international context. The concluding of International treaties between groupings of countries is put forward as perhaps the most effective solution in this regard.


This paper argues against the sense of certainty which editions and paradigms of Old English may have given us, texts emended quite often with several editors in agreement based on grammars now almost always unanimous in general and in detail. The manuscripts in which the texts have come down to us contain many rare forms of words, and these, especially when unique, may invite emendation to eliminate what is not easily explained. Unusual verb forms may be evidence that the verbal system of Old English was in a state of flux towards the end of the Anglo-Saxon period, the age to which the manuscripts belong. Textual and grammatical certainty and scholarly unanimity have led to the elimination of verb forms that look unlikely and feel uncomfortable in a grammar-dominated subject.


We examined the life history, annual production, diet, habitat preferences and competition of two species of stoneflies Notoperla fasciata and N. magnaspina in a Patagonian mountain headwater stream. Benthic samples and adult collections were taken monthly from July 2004 to June 2005. A habitat selection study was performed concurrently during high and low water periods in five substrate types. Although both species showed long life cycles (N. fasciata: 20 months and N. magnaspina: 3 years) their life histories and temporal dynamics were different. Growth was rapid during summer and early autumn as a result of warmer temperatures but N. magnaspina had a shorter emergence period (November to January) than N. fasciata (January to April). N. fasciata was the dominant Notoperla species with a mean annual density 6 times higher and secondary production 4.5 higher than that of N magnaspina. While boulders in riffles and pools, and leaf-pack habitats supported significantly more individuals of N. magnaspina in the low water period (ANOVA, p 0.26). N. fasciata dominated in the high water period and N. magnaspina during the low water period. Analysis of gut contents revealed that both species were herbivorous grazers, and consumed the same food types. The interspecific overlap in density, biomass and annual production among habitat types was high in the low water period (PS> 0.5). However, N. fasciata were smaller than N. magnaspina. The existence of different life history strategies and the temporal shift of main generations and density peaks were critical to allow species coexistence and to reduce competition.


A clinical trial is a study conducted on a group of patients to evaluate a new treatment procedure. Usually, clinicians manually select patients for a clinical trial; the choice of eligible patients is a labor-intensive process, and clinicians are often unable to identify sufficient number of patients, which delays the evaluation of new treatments. We have developed a Web-based system that helps clinicians to determine the eligibility of patients for multiple clinical trials. It uses probabilistic techniques that minimize the amount of manual data entry, by ordering the related data-entry steps. We describe the developed system and give the results of applying it to retrospective data of breast cancer patients at the Moffitt Cancer Center.


In this paper we report on efforts to enhance the Swiss persistent identifier (PID) ecosystem. We will firstly describe the current situation and the need for improvement in order to describe in full detail the steps undertaken to create a Swiss-wide model. A case study was undertaken by using several data sets from the domains of art and design in the context of the ICOPAD project. We will provide a set of recommendations to enable a PID service that could mint Archival Resource Key (ARK) identifiers or a flavour of Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs) as complement to Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs). We will conclude with some remarks concerning the transferability of this approach to other areas and the requirements for a national hub for PID management in Switzerland.


For most, change makes a regular appearance in everyday life and has the capacity to usher in excitement, growth, and chaos. Due to the variable nature of change, people may hold subjective definitions of what "change" typically means. Across four studies, we examine the possibility that there are meaningful individual differences in the dominant subjective definitions people hold about the nature of change. Study 1 and 2 investigated the spontaneous associations participants make when asked to think about change, and found that holding a positive or negative general view about change (as measured by the Nature of Change scale, developed by the researchers) predicts the valence of self-generated associations. Studies 1 and 2 also demonstrate that people with an implicit entity theory of change (believing that people largely cannot change) report more negative and less positive dominant definitions of change than incremental theorists who believe people's attributes are changeable. Study 3 expands on this finding to demonstrate a link between beliefs about the Nature of Change and beliefs about the role of effort in attributions of success. Participants who believe change is positive, predictable and controllable are more likely to believe that success is a product of effort than participants who believe change is negative, unpredictable and uncontrollable. Definitions of change predict success attributions over and above people's implicit incremental or entity theories, which have previously been shown to predict attributions. Finally, Study 4 investigates the possibility that more precise definitions of change (as improvement, decline, or random) would alter people's responses to the implicit theories scale, demonstrating that responses are somewhat contingent on definitions of change Further, change defined as improvement, decline, or random differentially predicted success attributions, which are also again predicted by people's Nature of Change definitions. Overall, the current set of studies demonstrates that individual differences in Running Head: FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE? 3 people's reactions to change are important to consider and may be as dynamic and diverse as change itself. Running Head: FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE? 4


We incorporate consumption indivisibilities into the Krugman (1980) model and show that an importer's per capita income becomes a primary determinant of "export zeros". Households in the rich North (poor South) are willing to pay high (low) prices for consumer goods; hence, unconstrained monopoly pricing generates arbitrage opportunities for internationally traded products. Export zeros arise because some northern firms abstain from exporting to the South, to avoid international arbitrage. Rich countries benefit from a trade liberalization, while poor countries lose. These results hold also under more general preferences with both extensive and intensive consumption margins. We show that a standard calibrated trade model (that ignores arbitrage) generates predictions on relative prices that violate no-arbitrage constraints in many bilateral trade relations. This suggests that international arbitrage is potentially important.


Before the Great Oxidation Event (GOE), at ∼2.4 Ga, the mineralogical record of the near-surface continental environment indicates a low partial pressure of oxygen during weathering, which restricted many elements to a low oxidation state and limited the number of possible minerals formed from these elements. Calculations show that local pulses in the production of O2 by photosynthesis could mobilize some metals (e.g. Mo and Re, but not U), but this O2 would be completely consumed. After the GOE, many elements could occur in one or more oxidized forms in minerals in the near-surface environment. This development resulted in an explosive growth in the diversification of minerals.


In eukaryotic cells, a family of serine/threonine protein kinases known as mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases (MAPKs) is involved in the transduction of a variety of extracellular signals and the regulation of different developmental processes. The MAPK is activated by dual phosphorylation of the TXY motif by MAPK kinase (MEK or MAPKK), which is activated in turn by MEK kinase (MEKK or MAPKKK). The sequential activation of the MAPK cascade eventually results in the activation of transcription factors and the expression of specific sets of genes in response to environmental stimuli. In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, five MAPK pathways are known to regulate mating, invasive growth, cell wall integrity, hyperosmoregulation, and ascospore formation (50). In the past decade, MAPKs in various plant and human pathogenic fungi have been characterized. In this review, we will compare their functions in different fungal pathogens with a focus on infection-related morphogenesis and virulence.


In this article by using OXBASH shell model code the energy levels of Sulfur isotopes 29 S - 31 S are calculated. This code which is based on one of the most applicable nuclear models, deals with evaluating energy levels. Applying the program for each isotope using the defined codes, introduces several files which each file contains a set of data. Meanwhile, the ground state of excitation energy evaluated by OXBASH code together with energy levels and also probable places for nucleons placements in each energy level. Programs will be reliable only when results meet experimental procedures. A compilation of SD-shell energy levels calculated with the USD Hamiltonian and has been published around 1988. A comparison had been made between our results and the available experimental data to test theoretical shell model description of nuclear structure in Sulfur isotopes. The calculated energy spectrum is in good agreement with the available experimental data.