Since the enactment of Law No. 8.884, of June 11, 2004, a new legal antitrust framework came into place in Brazil, setting into motion the government's objectives of enhancing the competitiveness of the Brazilian economy. In this article we try to answer the question: Who fears the Brazilian Antitrust Authority? The possible answer to this question was sought in the decisions handed down by the Brazilian antitrust authority in the course of all the administrative proceedings that took place during the last 10 years (1997-2007). Assessing the available data collected by an extensive jurisprudence research, we decomposed the question above into the following specific questionings: (i) What were the illicit behaviors subject to greater punishment?; (ii) Who was more frequently punished?; (iii) In which economic sectors illicit behaviors were more condemned?; and, finally (iv) Did the Brazilian antitrust authority care about signaling its decisions to the economic agents ? In light of the data collected we could observe that (i) the condemnations of the Brazilian antitrust authority usually punished behaviors in very general grounds, i.e. diminishing or imposing limitations to the free concurrence; (ii) enterprises and entrepreneurs were less subject to condemnations than associations and class unions; (iii) the health sector concentrated a much more extensive number of condemnations than any other economic sector; (iv) the Brazilian antitrust authority showed an increasingly concern about the importance of the obligation to disclosure the content of decision previously handed down.


Ministers noted the report and agreed to the thrust of its conclusions and recommendations. Introduction This report reviews the progress ECMT and OECD countries have made in reducing transport sector CO 2 emissions and makes recommendations for the focus of future policies. National communications under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and other recent policy statements were used to assemble a database of over 400 abatement policies introduced or under development. This reveals that transport sector CO 2 emissions steadily increased over the last ten years despite significant efforts to cut them in some countries. Assuming real household disposable incomes continue to grow at a faster rate than the real cost of transport this trend is likely to continue. Slowing the growth of transport sector CO 2 emissions would require more government action and an increasingly pro-active role from transport sector industries in improving energy efficiency.


The number of private vehicles increased dramatically during the last two decades in the island of Cyprus. This phenomenon had a negative effect on the bus transport mode which over the years its use has been considerably reduced. As traffic congestion increased considerably during the same period the need for a high quality public transportation system became clear. This need is also supported by the demand for public transportation by the aging and disadvantaged population. The best way to attract people back to public transportation is to have a reliable bus system with a high quality of service which can compensate for the lack of freedom and flexibility a private vehicle can provide. However such a system should not have a negative effect on the traffic network in terms of congestion and travel times but should coexist serving both the needs of people who do not drive and those who use the public transport mode. The purpose of this paper is to present the development and evaluation of a number of scenarios aiming at attracting commuters back to public transportation. This idea stems from the fact that surveys among the Cypriot commuters show that people will use buses if buses provide a fast and reliable service. For this purpose, microscopic simulation models are developed in order to examine several scenarios of dedicated bus lanes and bus priority schemes so that the buses can provide the desired level of service with the minimal impact on the rest of the traffic.


Introduction Viral respiratory infection (VRI) is associated with an increased rate of decline in lung function in children with cystic fibrosis (CF) but the long-term clinical impact of VRI in adults is poorly described. We performed a prospective observational study to determine the effect of VRI on lung function in adults with CF. Methods 100 adults with CF were followed for 12 months. Patients were seen every two months routinely and also at onset of new respiratory symptoms. Sputum, nose- and throat-swabs were collected at each visit for virological analysis. Polymerase chain reaction assays for adenovirus, influenza A&B, metapneumovirus, parainfluenza 1–3, respiratory syncytial virus and rhinovirus were performed on each sample. Spirometry was recorded at each visit. Treatment failure was defined as a failure of the FEV1 to return to ≥90% of baseline after intravenous antibiotics. Statistical analysis utilised generalized linear models and multiple linear regression as appropriate, taking into account multiple observations from participants. Results 191/626 (30.5%) study visits were positive for ≥1 virus with rhinovirus accounting for 72.5%. The incidence of VRI and pulmonary exacerbation (PEx) was 1.6 and 2.5 cases/patient-year respectively. VRI was associated with increased risk of PEx (OR 2.2; 95% CI 1.6 – 3.1; p<0.001). There was no significant difference in relative fall from baseline FEV1 at virus-positive compared with virus-negative visits (8.7 vs 9.4%, p=0.4). Acute fall in FEV1 was lower in virus-positive PEx compared with virus-negative PEx (12.7 vs 15.6%; p=0.04). Rate of PEx, but not of VRI, was associated with a statistically significant decline in FEV1 over one year, adjusted for age, sex and baseline lung function (β coefficient –1.79; 95% CI –3.4 to –0.2; p=0.02). Intravenous antibiotics were given for 122 PEx of which 90 had pre- and post-antibiotic FEV1 data available. 26/90 (29%) were classified as treatment failures. There was a trend towards lower likelihood of treatment failure in virus-positive PEx (OR 0.55; 95% CI 0.1 to 2.7; p=0.46). Conclusions Incidence of PEx, but not VRI, is associated with accelerated decline in FEV1 in adults with CF. Virus-positive PEx are associated with a lower acute fall in FEV1 than virus-negative PEx.


According to a well-established legislative tradition of patent law, failure to work patents while exercising any rights over the patented inventions constitutes an abuse. Consequently, several countries impose affirmative duties demanding evidence of commercial exploitation from patentees and their licensees within their territories. In view of the socio-economic significance of local working of patents, this article examines the extent to which African countries could implement national actions to ascertain mandatory requirements on the part of pharmaceutical patentees to work patented medicines locally, of which by default compulsory licensing would be justified. To that end, the author contends that African countries have the right to demand proof of local working of patents within their jurisdictions in order that the reasonable affordable requirements of the public can be met, because importation of essential medicines entails high costs and shortages and would not provide a sustainable means of protecting public health.


This chapter was commissioned as a result of a paper presented at the Istanbul International Spectral Music Conference, 2003. In addition to the text, the chapter concludes with a three page transcribed conversation between Dack and Paul Whitehead concerning topics discussed at the aforementioned conference (pp. 92-94). In this chapter Dack located Schaefferian thought within analytical approaches of spectral music. The analysis of the languages of spectral music highlights problems common to much contemporary music. A vocabulary is required which facilitates the identification and description of features normally regarded as peripheral to the creation of musical structure. Along with the promotion of 'timbre' as a principal articulator of formal process, there is an increased awareness of the expressive potential of, for example, attack, vibrato and movement in pitch-space. The vocabulary of spectral music includes all of these aspects of sound. Pierre Schaeffer formulated a system which can be used in an analysis and explanation of the processes of spectral music. Schaeffer's Programme de la Recherche Musicale (PROGREMU) was developed to help composers identify, describe and organise sound material. Various features of the five parts of PROGREMU are discussed with music examples from both electroacoustic and instrumental works in order to demonstrate how they can be applied to analyses of contemporary music in general and spectral music in particular. For example, typology provides an exhaustive classification system of sound types ranging from the traditional "note" to complex sounds of long duration. This chapter continues Dack's research into analytical procedures in contemporary music. Conference presentations at the 'International Conference on Music Analysis', Dublin, 2005, the 'Royal Music Association Conference', Aberdeen, 2008 and 'Die Klangwelt der akusmatischen Musik', Cologne, 2008 also explored the relationship between electroacoustic methods and their instrumental counterparts regarding issues in music analysis.


The objective of this work is the development of harmonized efficiency test methods for combined renewable heating systems for houses, using a hardware-in-the-loop approach. An overview of the principles of the existing whole system test methods used by 3 research institutes involved in the project (MacSheep 2012) is given. Main objectives are realistic dynamic test sequence elaboration for solar and heat pump systems and comparison of results from tests achieved in different institutes. In order to reach these objectives, the first phase of the work aimed to harmonize the boundary conditions that comprise both the physical boundaries of the tested system as well as the climate and heat load definition, and this is presented in the first part of the article. The second part presents two methodologies to elaborate 12-days and 6-days whole system test sequences, validation results for solar and air source heat pump systems (SHP) and a methodology for achieving equal amount of space heat supplied by the tested system while at the same time providing a realistic response of the heat distribution system.


VMs are complex pieces of software that implement programming language semantics in an efficient, portable, and secure way. Unfortunately, mainstream VMs provide applications with few mechanisms to alter execution semantics or memory management at run time. We argue that this limits the evolvability and maintainability of running systems for both, the application domain, e.g., to support unforeseen requirements, and the VM domain, e.g., to modify the organization of objects in memory. This work explores the idea of incorporating reflective capabilities into the VM domain and analyzes its impact in the context of software adaptation tasks. We characterize the notion of a fully reflective VM, a kind of VM that provides means for its own observability and modifiability at run time. This enables programming languages to adapt the underlying VM to changing requirements. We propose a reference architecture for such VMs and present TruffleMATE as a prototype for this architecture. We evaluate the mechanisms TruffleMATE provides to deal with unanticipated dynamic adaptation scenarios for security, optimization, and profiling aspects. In contrast to existing alternatives, we observe that TruffleMATE is able to handle all scenarios, using less than 50 lines of code for each, and without interfering with the application's logic.


BACKGROUND
Recent guidelines recommend the Lynch Syndrome prediction models MMRPredict, MMRPro, and PREMM1,2,6 for the identification of MMR gene mutation carriers. We compared the predictive performance and clinical usefulness of these prediction models to identify mutation carriers.

METHODS
Pedigree data from CRC patients in 11 North American, European, and Australian cohorts (6 clinic- and 5 population-based sites) were used to calculate predicted probabilities of pathogenic MLH1, MSH2, or MSH6 gene mutations by each model and gene-specific predictions by MMRPro and PREMM1,2,6. We examined discrimination with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration with observed to expected (O/E) ratio, and clinical usefulness using decision curve analysis to select patients for further evaluation. All statistical tests were two-sided.

RESULTS
Mutations were detected in 539 of 2304 (23%) individuals from the clinic-based cohorts (237 MLH1, 251 MSH2, 51 MSH6) and 150 of 3451 (4.4%) individuals from the population-based cohorts (47 MLH1, 71 MSH2, 32 MSH6). Discrimination was similar for clinic- and population-based cohorts: AUCs of 0.76 vs 0.77 for MMRPredict, 0.82 vs 0.85 for MMRPro, and 0.85 vs 0.88 for PREMM1,2,6. For clinic- and population-based cohorts, O/E deviated from 1 for MMRPredict (0.38 and 0.31, respectively) and MMRPro (0.62 and 0.36) but were more satisfactory for PREMM1,2,6 (1.0 and 0.70). MMRPro or PREMM1,2,6 predictions were clinically useful at thresholds of 5% or greater and in particular at greater than 15%.

CONCLUSIONS
MMRPro and PREMM1,2,6 can well be used to select CRC patients from genetics clinics or population-based settings for tumor and/or germline testing at a 5% or higher risk. If no MMR deficiency is detected and risk exceeds 15%, we suggest considering additional genetic etiologies for the cause of cancer in the family.


Simulation methods are used to measure the expected differentials between the Mean Square Errors of the forecasts from models based on temporally disaggregated versus aggregated data. This allows for novel comparisons including long-order ARMA models, such as those expected with weekly data, under realistic conditions where the parameter values have to be estimated. The ambivalence of past empirical evidence on the benefits of disaggregation is addressed by analyzing four different economic time series for which relatively large sample sizes are available. Because of this, a sufficient number of predictions can be considered to obtain conclusive results from out-of-sample forecasting contests. The validity of the conventional method for inferring the order of the aggregated models is revised.


Ice patterns can be used to make ceramic investment moulds for metal castings. Owing to the characteristics of ice, the ceramic mould must be made at subzero temperatures and consequently, requires a different formulation than shells built at room temperature. Success of this process depends greatly on the fracture toughness of mould materials. The present paper describes the experimental results of fracture toughness of mould materials processed from different compositions. The Taguchi method was used to reduce the trial runs. The parameters considered included the ratio of fibre containing fused silica and aluminosilicate powders, the volume of binder and the volume of catalyst. The microstructure and green fracture surface of test bars were also examined to understand the underlying mechanism. While conducting the four point bend test on ceramic mould samples, some samples had exceedingly low strengths appearing as outliers in the Weibull analysis. Examination of these low strength ceramic samples improved understanding of failure of mould materials. Sound moulds have been made for the investment casting process with ice patterns based on the analysis of experimental results. The casting of an M8 bolt is used to demonstrate that metal castings of complex geometry can be fabricated using ice patterns. The measured tolerances are within the required tolerance range.


Objective. To examine demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of parents and children in families not participating in preventive child health examinations at the general practitioner in a society with free and easy access to healthcare. Design. Population-covering register linkage study. Setting. Denmark, 2002–2004. Subjects. Two cohorts comprising all children born in Denmark between 1 July 1998 and 30 June 1999 (n =70 891) and in 2002 (n =65 995), respectively. The demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of these children and the adults living in the same household as these were identified through register linkage. Main outcome measures. Crude and mutually adjusted odds ratios for non-participation in scheduled preventive child health examinations at the GP (age 5 weeks, 5 months, 12 months, 4 years, and 5 years) according to child characteristics (sex, number of hospitalizations, and older siblings) and parental characteristics (age, educational level, attachment to labour market, ethnicity, household income, and number of adults in the household). Results. Children of young and single parents were less likely to receive a preventive child health examination. Increased odds ratios for non-participation were found for children of parents outside the labour market, with low educational level, and especially for the combination of these. Non-participation increased with decreasing household income and with the number of older siblings. Conclusion. Despite the fact that Denmark has free and easy access to the GP, the utilization of preventive child health examinations is lower among the more deprived part of the population.


Over 1200 post-fire assessment and treatment implementation reports from four decades (1970s–2000s) of western US forest fires have been examined to identify decadal patterns in fire characteristics and the justifications and expenditures for the post-fire treatments. The main trends found were: (1) the area burned by wildfire increased over time and the rate of increase accelerated after 1990; (2) the proportions of burned area assessed as low, moderate and high burn severity likely have remained fairly constant over time, but the use of satellite imagery that began c. 2000 increased the resolution of burn severity assessments leading to an apparent decreased proportion of high burn severity during the 2000s; (3) treatment justifications reflected regional concerns (e.g. soil productivity in areas of timber harvest) and generally reflected increased human encroachment in the wildland–urban interface; (4) modifications to roads were the most frequently recommended post-fire treatment type; (5) seeding was the most frequently used land treatment, but declined in use over time; (6) use of post-fire agricultural straw mulch has steadily increased because of proven success; and (7) the greatest post-fire expenditures have been for land treatments applied over large areas to protect important resources (e.g. municipal water sources).


In October 1988, the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) triple
vaccine was introduced in the UK. This study analyses the process of gathering and communicating factual evidence to support the decision made in order to implement the triple vaccine and to renew the prevailing vaccination policy. The study shows that implementation of a new national vaccination strategy is a not single act of decision-making, but a heterogeneous process of acting with facts, which grounds the decision itself on a solid body of evidence.
This study develops the concept 'acting with' as a way to describe how facts are acted upon in the context of utilisation. In particular, the concept of acting with is refined as enacting, interacting, and reacting in the case of implementing the MMR triple vaccine in the UK (1987). These three modalities of acting with facts reveal the dynamic, practice-driven side of evidence. The study is based on archived documents held at the Health Protection Agency, Colindale.


A transfer-matrix technique is used to calculate the lasing thresholds of second-order circular-grating polymer lasers operating at 630 nm. By use of poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-p-phenylenevinylene] as an example polymer material, it is also shown how known optical properties of polymeric materials may be incorporated into the analysis of both the transverse waveguiding and the distributed feedback in circular-grating distributed-feedback polymer lasers.


The methylation of ethene, propene, and trans-2-butene on zeolites H-ZSM-58 (DDR), H-ZSM-22 (TON), and H-ZSM-5 (MFI) is studied to elucidate the particular influence of topology on the kinetics of zeolite-catalyzed reactions. H-ZSM-58 and H-ZSM-22 are found to display overall lower methylation rates compared to H-ZSM-5 and also different trends in methylation rates with increasing alkene size. These variations may be rationalized based on a decomposition of the free-energy barriers into enthalpic and entropic contributions, which reveals that the lower methylation rates on H-ZSM-58 and H-ZSM-22 have virtually opposite reasons. On H-ZSM-58, the lower methylation rates are caused by higher enthalpy barriers, owing to inefficient stabilization of the reaction intermediates in the large cage-like pores. On the other hand, on H-ZSM-22, the methylation rates mostly suffer from higher entropy barriers, because excessive entropy losses are incurred inside the narrow-channel structure. These results show that the kinetics of crucial elementary steps hinge on the balance between proper stabilization of the reaction intermediates inside the zeolite pores and the resulting entropy losses. These fundamental insights into their inner workings are indispensable for ultimately selecting or designing better zeolite catalysts.


To support data intensive cluster computing, it is increasingly important that node virtual memory (VM) systems make effective use of available fast storage devices for swap or temporary file space. Nswap2L is a novel system that transparently manages a heterogeneous set of storage options commonly found in clusters, including node RAM, disk, flash SSD, PCM, or network storage devices. Nswap2L implements a two-level device driver interface. At the top level, it appears to node operating systems (OSs) as a single, fast, random access device that can be added as a swap partition on cluster nodes. It transparently manages the underlying heterogeneous storage devices, including its own implementation of Network RAM, to which swapped out data are stored. It implements data placement, migration, and prefetching policies that choose which underlying physical devices store swapped-out page data. Its policies incorporate information about device capacity, system load, and the strengths of different physical storage media. By moving device-specific knowledge into Nswap2L, VM policies in the OS can be based solely on typical application access patterns and not on characteristics of underlying physical storage media. Nswap2L's policy decisions are abstracted from the OS, freeing the OS from having to implement specialized policies for different combinations of cluster storage---Nswap2L requires no changes to the OS's VM system. Results of our benchmark tests show that data-intensive applications perform up to 6 times faster on Nswap2L-enabled clusters, and show that our two-level device driver design adds minimal I/O latency to the underlying devices that Nswap2L manages. In addition, we found that even though Nswap2L's Network RAM is faster than any other backing store, its prefetching policy that distributes data over multiple devices results in increased I/O parallelism and can lead to better performance than swapping only to a single underlying device.


By using clothing practices, the thesis illustrates how we become Black Muslim women in relation to a multitude of objects, bodies, gazes and spaces. This contributes to research within critical race studies on the performance and production of racialised bodies across different spaces. Specifically, the thesis asks what analytical tools can be developed to understand how Black Muslim women negotiate presentations beyond a fixed categorisation of our beings and how clothing practices highlight different experiences of being Black Muslim women across a multitude of spaces. This extends work on the territorialisation of the body, emotional and affective geographies, performativity and material culture, as well as visual studies through phenomenological readings of race. Building these fields through the lens of Black Muslim stylisation illustrates how centring Black Muslim women in Britain provides the opportunity to develop new and critical knowledges on the co-production of different bodies, gazes and spaces within Social Geography.

I explore how we perform our beings through the use of clothes journals and semi-structured interviews (based on Black feminist dialogue) with 21 Black Muslim women in Manchester and Sheffield. These methods (along with the research design and analysis) speak from and build upon a wider ethical commitment to reflexively build knowledge with Black Muslim women, and to challenge spaces of knowledge production and legitimisation that have excluded and/or objectified this diversity of beings across different spaces.

To highlight these experiences of being, there are three analytical tools that come in and out of focus throughout the project; comfort, layering and visibility are developed within the interludes running between the empirical chapters. Meanwhile, the empirical chapters expand on our beings as shifting in relation to our presentations across three spaces (home, prayer and work). Home clothing illustrates how boundaries around the body shifts as we interact with different bodies (and boundaries) in and around the home. The clothes used for prayer speaks to the relationship between layering and prayer's brief (and racialised) temporality: even after the material layer used for prayer is removed, the performance of prayer remains part of our overarching beings. Finally, I use work outfits to think through the clothing practices used to 'fit' into (i.e. negotiate visibility within) different spaces.

By framing this thesis through the geographies of Black Muslim women, I extend research on how bodies are produced and shift across different spaces. This highlights different experiences of being across a multitude of spaces, and challenges a homogeneous and static reading of Black (and) Muslim women as Other to a white Self.


Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common infectious cause of congenital anomalies of the CNS in humans. We recently reported that the murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) immediate‐early (IE) gene promoter directs astrocyte‐specific expression in adult transgenic mice. In the present study, we analyzed the activation of the MCMV IE promoter in developing transgenic mouse brains and compared the activation with that of the Musashi 1 (Msi1) gene, which is expressed in neural progenitor cells, including neural stem cells. During the early phase of neurogenesis, the transgene was expressed predominantly in endothelial cells of the vessels, but not in neuroepithelial cells in which Msi1 was expressed. During later stages of gestation, expression of the transgene was largely restricted to the ventricular zone (VZ) in the CNS, similar to the expression of Msi1. In neurosphere cultures from transgenic embryos in the late phase of neurogenesis, the transgene was expressed in some cells of neurospheres expressing Msi1 and nestin. In neural precursor cells induced to differentiate from stem cells, expression of the transgene was detected in glial progenitor cells, expressing GFAP, nestin, and Msi1, but not in cells expressing MAP2 or MAG. In postnatal development, persistent expression of the transgene was observed in astrocyte lineage cells as was Msi1. These spatiotemporal changes of the MCMV IE promoter activity during development of transgenic mice correlated with susceptible sites in congenital HCMV infection. Moreover, this transgenic mouse model may provide useful model for analysis of the regulation of the switching of neuronal and astrocyte differentiation, and the maintenance of the astrocyte lineage. GLIA 35:41–52, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


BACKGROUND
We compared docetaxel plus doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (TAC) with fluorouracil plus doxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (FAC) as adjuvant chemotherapy for operable node-positive breast cancer.

METHODS
We randomly assigned 1491 women with axillary node-positive breast cancer to six cycles of treatment with either TAC or FAC as adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery. The primary end point was disease-free survival.

RESULTS
At a median follow-up of 55 months, the estimated rates of disease-free survival at five years were 75 percent among the 745 patients randomly assigned to receive TAC and 68 percent among the 746 randomly assigned to receive FAC, representing a 28 percent reduction in the risk of relapse (P=0.001) in the TAC group. The estimated rates of overall survival at five years were 87 percent and 81 percent, respectively. Treatment with TAC resulted in a 30 percent reduction in the risk of death (P=0.008). The incidence of grade 3 or 4 neutropenia was 65.5 percent in the TAC group and 49.3 percent in the FAC group (P<0.001); rates of febrile neutropenia were 24.7 percent and 2.5 percent, respectively (P<0.001). Grade 3 or 4 infections occurred in 3.9 percent of the patients who received TAC and 2.2 percent of those who received FAC (P=0.05); no deaths occurred as a result of infection. Two patients in each group died during treatment. Congestive heart failure and acute myeloid leukemia occurred in less than 2 percent of the patients in each group. Quality-of-life scores decreased during chemotherapy but returned to baseline levels after treatment.

CONCLUSIONS
Adjuvant chemotherapy with TAC, as compared with FAC, significantly improves the rates of disease-free and overall survival among women with operable node-positive breast cancer.


Language vector space models (VSMs) have recently proven to be effective across a variety of tasks. In VSMs, each word in a corpus is represented as a real-valued vector. These vectors can be used as features in many applications in machine learning and natural language processing. In this paper, we study the effect of vector space representations in cyber security. In particular, we consider a passive traffic analysis attack (Website Fingerprinting) that threatens users' navigation privacy on the web. By using anonymous communication, Internet users (such as online activists) may wish to hide the destination of web pages they access for different reasons such as avoiding tyrant governments. Traditional website fingerprinting studies collect packets from the users' network and extract features that are used by machine learning techniques to reveal the destination of certain web pages. In this work, we propose the packet to vector (P2V) approach where we model website fingerprinting attack using word vector representations. We show how the suggested model outperforms previous website fingerprinting works.


In this paper, we investigate the average symbol error probability (SEP) of fixed decode-and-forward relay networks over independent but not identically distributed Nakagami-m fading channels. We have derived closed form expression of SEP for general rectangular quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) under relay selection scheme where only the best relay forwards message from the source to the destination. The expressions are in terms of hypergeometric series which can be efficiently numerically evaluated. The numerical results are validated with Monte-Carlo simulations.


In this study, microstructure and elemental analysis of chicken eggs was performed using scanning electron microscope (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. SEM-EDX spectroscopic technique was able to detect the elemental composition of the samples. Peaks of the essential elements such as nitrogen, phosphorous, sodium, and potassium were observed in the spectrums generated by the system. Carbon and oxygen exhibits the highest weight percentage among all the elements detected. The technique was found adequate for qualitative and quantitative measurements of the elements present in the sample; without undergoing sample preparation such as chemical digestion needed in other techniques.


Democracy in its traditional form is exercised in part through voting, majority rule, laws protecting minority viewpoints and the freedom to listen to all voices. However, democracy is rarely something that we consciously manifest in daily life – whether during political debates, community meetings, personal relationships, or in our internal lives. In this article I describe a few communication methods that make it possible to bring an even deeper form of democracy to life in our moment-to-moment interactions. Leaders, group and community facilitators, and anyone who wants to become a 'participant-facilitator' can use this new form of democracy, based on basic awareness principles and methods. The framework I describe is derived from process-oriented psychology, its group process application, called worldwork and its philosophy of deep democracy. I show that without awareness of our moment-to-moment overt and subtle, dreamlike signals democracy is a dream that has not quite happened. With greater awareness, political debate as well as community and personal dialogue can transform into more co-creative and deeply democratic interactions. I also speak about a new kind of leader who can be ordinary and one sided as well as bring awareness and openness to the various people and levels of any interaction. To make my point, I use examples from large group work, the recent presidential race in the United States, as well as personal interactions. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Inflation is a key economic indicator that affects all economic agents. But the mechanisms by which price data are captured and aggregated are less uniform than might be expected, and there are a number of practical issues that can affect measured inflation rates. Focusing on UK data, this article examines the differing processes for measuring consumer prices, producer prices and other measures of inflation. It considers the data collection process at the microeconomic level, how sampling and aggregation methodologies vary, and the implications and impact that different averaging techniques can have on the same underlying data. It also discusses how the aggregation process can affect the time series properties of headline inflation.


We are constantly told that human traits - from aggression to gender differences - are 'hardwired'. In "Beyond Human Nature" Jesse J. Prinz reveals that it is the societies we live in, not our genes, that determine how we think and feel. From why mental illness differs so widely between cultures to how geography influences morals, from our sexual preferences to how we learn languages, he proves that the vast diversity of behaviour is not ingrained. This is a book about humanity's power to transcend nature; and one that, ultimately, celebrates our differences. Jesse J. Prinz is currently a Distinguished Professor of philosophy at the City University of New York and an Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he taught until January 2009. He works primarily in the philosophy of psychology and has produced books and articles on emotion, moral psychology, aesthetics and consciousness. "From start to finish this book is a fine, balanced, enormously learned and informative blast on the trumpet of common sense and humane understanding ...wonderful". (Simon Blackburn, "New Statesman"). "The nature versus nurture tussle has been running for centuries, and into this fervid arena steps Jesse J. Prinz ...he explores the origins of knowledge, language, thought and emotion and argues that there is not one human nature, but many". (Carl Wilkinson, "Financial Times"). "Jesse Prinz wants to call a halt to the "century of the gene" ...in a backlash against the tyranny of DNA". ("Sydney Morning Herald").


This article reports on the EU project ExCITE with specific focus on the technical development of the telepresence platform over a period of 42 months. The aim of the project was to assess the robustness and validity of the mobile robotic telepresence (MRP) system Giraff as a means to support elderly people and to foster their social interaction and participation. Embracing the idea of user-centered product refinement, the robot was tested over long periods of time in real homes. As such, the system development was driven by a strong involvement of elderly people and their caregivers but also by technical challenges associated with deploying the robot in real-world contexts. The results of the 42-months' long evaluation is a system suitable for use in homes rather than a generic system suitable, for example, in office environments.


Intravenous infusion of 500 ml of 6% polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP, average molecular weight 40,000) in isotonic saline solution daily for 2 days induced prompt and significant reductions in serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations in eight hyperlipidemic patients. Mean maximal decrements in serum cholesterol and triglyceride were 29% and 28% below control values, respectively, occurring 5 days after infusion of PVP. Mean values for hematocrit and total serum protein concentration were slightly decreased following PVP infusion, but there were no changes in percentage composition of serum proteins, blood sugar, serum sodium and potassium, body weight, and blood pressure. The hypolipidemic effect of PVP persisted beyond the period of plasma volume expansion, as demonstrated by measurement of the plasma volume isotopically and by long-term follow-up in five of the patients.


Background: The aim of this study was to investigate whether the prior consumption of 200 mg of pure caffeine affected neuropsychological test scores in a group of elderly participants aged over 60 years. Method: Using a double-blind placebo versus caffeine design, participants were randomly assigned to receive 200 mg of caffeine or placebo. A neuropsychological assessment testing the domains of general cognitive function, processing speed, semantic memory, episodic memory, executive function, working memory and short-term memory was carried out. Results: Significant interaction effects between age, caffeine and scores of executive function and processing speed were found; participants who had received caffeine showed a decline in performance with increasing age. This effect was not seen for participants who received placebo. Conclusion: The results highlight the need to consider and control prior caffeine consumption when scoring neuropsychological assessments in the elderly, which is important for accuracy of diagnosis and corresponding normative data.


Between the 1880s and the 1940s, the region known as British West Africa became a dynamic zone of literary creativity and textual experimentation. African-owned newspapers offered local writers numerous opportunities to contribute material for publication, and editors repeatedly defined the press as a vehicle to host public debates rather than simply as an organ to disseminate news or editorial ideology. Literate locals responded with great zeal, and in increasing numbers as the twentieth century progressed, they sent in letters, articles, fiction, and poetry for publication in English- and African-language newspapers. The Power to Name offers a rich cultural history of this phenomenon, examining the wide array of anonymous and pseudonymous writing practices to be found in African-owned newspapers between the 1880s and the 1940s, and the rise of celebrity journalism in the period of anticolonial nationalism. Stephanie Newell has produced an account of colonial West Africa that skillfully shows the ways in which colonized subjects used pseudonyms and anonymity to alter and play with colonial power and constructions of African identity.


Phosphorescence of calcite and fluorite, exposed for a few minutes to 2537° ultraviolet light from a low-pressure cold quartz mercury vapor lamp, persisted for 18 years. Emission was detected by placing the phosphorescing minerals on black-and-white and Kodachrome film, to obtain "phosphorographs" of the glowing areas. The rate of emission depends on temperature; the color of the phosphorescence has not changed; these confirm the results of other tests that prove that radioactivity is not involved. The patterns of growth of a crystal, and changes of its environment during formation, are clearly shown by the variegated colors in its phosphorograph.


Classic recommender systems face challenges in addressing the data sparsity and cold-start problems with only modeling the user-item relation. An essential direction is to incorporate and understand the additional heterogeneous relations, e.g., user-user and item-item relations, since each user-item interaction is often influenced by other users and items, which form the user's/item's influential contexts. This induces important yet challenging issues, including modeling heterogeneous relations, interactions, and the strength of the influence from users/items in the influential contexts. To this end, we design Influential-Context Aggregation Units (ICAU) to aggregate the user-user/item-item relations within a given context as the influential context embeddings. Accordingly, we propose a Heterogeneous relations-Embedded Recommender System (HERS) based on ICAUs to model and interpret the underlying motivation of user-item interactions by considering user-user and item-item influences. The experiments on two real-world datasets show the highly improved recommendation quality made by HERS and its superiority in handling the cold-start problem. In addition, we demonstrate the interpretability of modeling influential contexts in explaining the recommendation results.


Mobile edge computing (MEC) is a promising technique for providing low-latency access to services at the network edge. The services are hosted at various types of edge nodes with both computation and communication capabilities. Due to the heterogeneity of edge node characteristics and user locations, the performance of MEC varies depending on where the service is hosted. In this paper, we consider such a heterogeneous MEC system, and focus on the problem of placing multiple services in the system to maximize the total reward. We show that the problem is NP-hard via reduction from the set cover problem, and propose a deterministic approximation algorithm to solve the problem, which has an approximation ratio that is not worse than$(1-e^{-1})/4$. The proposed algorithm is based on two subroutines that are suitable for small and arbitrarily sized services, respectively. The algorithm is designed using a novel way of partitioning each edge node into multiple slots, where each slot contains one service. The approximation guarantee is obtained via a specialization of the method of conditional expectations, which uses a randomized procedure as an intermediate step. In addition to theoretical guarantees, simulation results also show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other state-of-the-art approaches.


We propose an alternative ratio statistic for measuring predictability of stock prices. Our statistic is based on actual returns rather than logarithmic returns and is therefore better suited to capturing price predictability. It captures not only linear dependence in the same way as the variance ratio statistics of Lo and MacKinlay (1988) but also some nonlinear dependencies. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the statistics under the null hypothesis that simple gross returns are unpredictable after a constant mean adjustment. This represents a test of the weak form of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. We also consider the multivariate extension, in particular, we derive the restrictions implied by the EMH on multiperiod portfolio gross returns. We apply our methodology to test the gross return predictability of various financial series.


Article history: Received October 23,2013 Received in revised format November 25, 2013 Accepted December 12, 2013 Available online December 14 2013 Flexible job shop scheduling problem is a key factor of using efficiently in production systems. This paper attempts to simultaneously optimize three objectives including minimization of the make span, total workload and maximum workload of jobs. Since the multi objective flexible job shop scheduling problem is strongly NP-Hard, an integrated heuristic approach has been used to solve it. The proposed approach was based on a floating search procedure that has used some heuristic algorithms. Within floating search procedure utilize local heuristic algorithms; it makes the considered problem into two sections including assigning and sequencing sub problem. First of all search is done upon assignment space achieving an acceptable solution and then search would continue on sequencing space based on a heuristic algorithm. This paper has used a multi-objective approach for producing Pareto solution. Thus proposed approach was adapted on NSGA II algorithm and evaluated Pareto-archives. The elements and parameters of the proposed algorithms were adjusted upon preliminary experiments. Finally, computational results were used to analyze efficiency of the proposed algorithm and this results showed that the proposed algorithm capable to produce efficient solutions. © 2014 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.


A series of amino-acid derived bis-urea gelators were synthesised, some of which show strong gelation in a wide variety of solvents. The gels were probed at the molecular, microscopic and macroscopic levels to gain insights into the gelation behaviour observed. Mixtures of different gelators also result in gels, some of which show different fibre morphologies and X-ray powder patterns to the pure gelators. The series was extended to include fluorescent 1- and 2-pyrenylalanine derived gelators and the fluorescence behaviour of the gels in solution, the gel state, in mixed gels and with the addition of anions was investigated. Tetrabutylammonium-acetate was found to disrupt urea-hydrogen bonding leading to the break-down of the gels, a process which was followed by NMR spectroscopy, rheometry and fluorescence spectroscopy. Two gelators were used to template the formation of porous polymers which SEM and gas adsorption studies show reflect the different fibre morphologies observed in the gels.

The use of supramolecular gels as a medium for controlling the crystallisation of pharmaceutical compounds was developed. Proof of principle for the growth of a wide range of pharmaceutical compounds from a variety of different gels was demonstrated. The supramolecular nature of the gels was exploited by using anions to break down the gels in order to recover the crystals. Comparison of crystals grown from gels with those grown from solution highlighted a number of differences in crystal form, habit and stability. Gelators which mimic the chemical functionality of the drug compound being crystallised were synthesised. A study investigating the crystallisation of 5-methyl-2-[(2-nitrophenyl)amino]-3-thiophenecarbonitrile (ROY) showed some differences in polymorphism when crystallised from a gel designed to mimic ROY compared to generic gels. A placement with the particle science group at GSK explored the potential of supramolecular gels for use in early stage screening of pharmaceutical compounds in an industrial setting.


There is an emerging focus on real-time data stream analysis on mobile devices. A wide range of data stream processing applications are targeted to run on mobile handheld devices with limited computational capabilities such as patient monitoring, driver monitoring, providing real-time analysis and visualization for emergency and disaster management, real-time optimization for courier pick-up and delivery etc. There are many challenges in visualization of the analysis/data stream mining results on a mobile device. These include coping with the small screen real-estate and effective presentation of highly dynamic and real-time analysis. This paper proposes a generic theory for visualization on small screens that we term Adaptive Clutter Reduction ACR. Based on ACR, we have developed and experimentally validated a novel data stream clustering result visualization technique that we term Clutter-Aware Clustering Visualizer (CACV). Experimental results on both synthetic and real datasets using the Google Andriod platform are presented proving the effectiveness of the proposed techniques.


Abstract Dolerites from the Sierra de San Pedro (Betic Cordillera, southern Spain) develop three main types of microsystems during hydrothermal alteration: (1) centimetre-sized veins crosscutting the dolerites; (2) microfractures in feldspar and diopside grains; and (3) alterations involving primary-igneous mafic phyllosilicate grains. The vein and microfracture sites developed alteration assemblages of randomly oriented smectites (saponite and beidellite) and halloysite. At these sites, the alteration mechanism was governed by complete dissolution of the parent material with subsequent crystallization of the products, with no parent-mineral crystallographic control. Pseudomorphed mafic phyllosilicate sites are characterized by oriented complex mineral assemblages made of chlorite, chlorite/smectite mixed layers, corrensite, saponite and relicts of biotite. These assemblages formed during the initial high-temperature stage of the hydrothermal process. In these microsites, the alteration sequence was controlled by the parent-mineral structure and chemistry, with products determined by structural relations with the parent phyllosilicate. Alteration of one phyllosilicate to the next most stable proceeds via interstratification of the parent and product phyllosilicates.


Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) deposited at the interface of the intermediate layer [poly (3,4ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS)] and poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenylC61-butyricacidmethylester (P3HT:PCBM) active layer were found to significantly increase organic solar cell performance. Organic solar cell devices with different solvents, such as the chlorobenzene (CB), dichlorobenzene (DCB), chloroform (CF), and co-solvent Chlorobenzene: Dichlorobenzene (CB:DCB), Chlorobenzene:Chloroform (CB:CF), and Dichlorobenzene:Chloroform (DCB:CF) were fabricated. The photo-physical properties of these devices with different solvents are investigated. It can be found that, absorption spectrum of the blend becomes broad with different solvents, which is highly desirable for an organic solar cell devices. Film morphology is evaluated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). XRD patterns and External Quantum Efficiency (EQE) measurements are also performed for the devices. The efficiency enhancement for the device with (CB:CF) is more significant than for other solvents. With different solvents, the solar cells upon (CB:CF) give Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) of 3.6%, in contrast to 3.2% for (CB), 2.06% for (DCB), 3% for (CF), 2.55% for (CB:DCB), and 2.9% (DCB:CF) devices.


SUMMARY The northern end of the Dead Sea Fault (DSF) in the Amik Basin (Southern Turkey) is investi- gated using palaeoseismology, archaeoseismology and geophysical prospecting to understand the fault activity during the Holocene. Archaeological sites are largely spread in the area and the fault crosses at least two of them: the ∼5000 BC Tell Socantarla and ∼2000 BC ancient road. Detailed field investigations and geophysical surveys of the tell, an ancient road and a Roman wall reveal 42.4 ± 1.5, 25 ± 3.5 and 9 ± 0.5 m cumulative left-lateral movement along the fault and yield an average 6.07 mm yr −1 slip rate. In addition, palaeoseismic trenching across the fault supports both the exact location of the fault that cut tell and ancient road and recent faulting events related with the 1408 and 1872 large historical earthquakes. This work shows the value of faulted archaeological sites that document past earthquakes and may contribute to a better seismic hazard assessment along the northern DSF.


We study a composite millicharged dark matter model. The dark matter is in the form of pionlike objects emerging from a higher scale QCD-like theory. We present two distinct possibilities with interesting phenomenological consequences based on the choice of the parameters. In the first one, the dark matter is produced non-thermally and it could potentially account for the 130 GeV Fermi photon line via decays of the "dark pions". We estimate the self-interaction cross section which might play an important role both in changing the dark matter halo profile at the center of the galaxy and in making the dark matter warmer. In the second version the dark matter is produced via the freeze-in mechanism. Finally we impose all possible astrophysical, cosmological and experimental constraints. We study in detail generic constraints on millicharged dark matter that can arise from anomalous isotope searches of different elements and we show why constraints based on direct searches from underground detectors are not generally valid. Preprint: CP 3 -Origins-2013-15 DNRF90 & DIAS-2013-15.


The industrialization of the channels and scale of communication has led some well-meaning reformers to try to regulate the ability of powerful private actors to leverage economic inequality into political inequality, particularly in the area of campaign finance. Such reform efforts are ostensibly intended to further the deliberative democratic ideal of rational, informed public decisionmaking by preventing well-funded private interests from improperly influencing democratic debate and, by extension, political outcomes. This Article examines empirical findings in political science, psychology, and marketing and argues that, in the context of contemporary American society, the normative principles of deliberative democracy and formal equality operate at cross-purposes. Equalizing measures in campaign finance regulation are extremely likely to increase the divergence between actual political decisionmaking and a deliberative, informed, rational ideal by increasing the incentives for speakers to mislead and manipulate voters or by entrenching preexisting majorities. This Article argues that, rather than focusing on equality of financing, reformers would do better to think about how to ameliorate the source of non-optimal political decisionmaking: the (economically rational) political ignorance, non-rational decisionmaking, and civic disengagement of the average citizen.


Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text. Background and Purpose: Acute ischemic stroke and large vessel occlusion can be concurrent with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection. Outcomes after mechanical thrombectomy (MT) for large vessel occlusion in patients with COVID-19 are substantially unknown. Our aim was to study early outcomes after MT in patients with COVID-19. Methods: Multicenter, European, cohort study involving 34 stroke centers in France, Italy, Spain, and Belgium. Data were collected between March 1, 2020 and May 5, 2020. Consecutive laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases with large vessel occlusion, who were treated with MT, were included. Primary investigated outcome: 30-day mortality. Secondary outcomes: early neurological improvement (National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale improvement ≥8 points or 24 hours National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale 0–1), successful reperfusion (modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction grade ≥2b), and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage. Results: We evaluated 93 patients with COVID-19 with large vessel occlusion who underwent MT (median age, 71 years [interquartile range, 59–79]; 63 men [67.7%]). Median pretreatment National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale and Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score were 17 (interquartile range, 11–21) and 8 (interquartile range, 7–9), respectively. Anterior circulation acute ischemic stroke represented 93.5% of cases. The rate modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction 2b to 3 was 79.6% (74 patients [95% CI, 71.3–87.8]). Thirty-day mortality was 29% (27 patients [95% CI, 20–39.4]). Early neurological improvement was 19.5% (17 patients [95% CI, 11.8–29.5]), and symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage was 5.4% (5 patients [95% CI, 1.7–12.1]). Patients who died at 30 days exhibited significantly lower lymphocyte count, higher levels of aspartate, and LDH (lactate dehydrogenase). After adjustment for age, initial National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score, and successful reperfusion, these biological markers remained associated with increased odds of 30-day mortality (adjusted odds ratio of 2.70 [95% CI, 1.21–5.98] per SD-log decrease in lymphocyte count, 2.66 [95% CI, 1.22–5.77] per SD-log increase in aspartate, and 4.30 [95% CI, 1.43–12.91] per SD-log increase in LDH). Conclusions: The 29% rate of 30-day mortality after MT among patients with COVID-19 is not negligible. Abnormalities of lymphocyte count, LDH and aspartate may depict a patient's profiles with poorer outcomes after MT. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT04406090.


This paper contrasts measures of teacher effectiveness with the students' evaluations for the same teachers using administrative data from Bocconi University (Italy). The effectiveness measures are estimated by comparing the subsequent performance in follow-on coursework of students who are randomly assigned to teachers in each of their compulsory courses. We find that, even in a setting where the syllabuses are fixed, teachers still matter substantially. The average difference in subsequent performance between students who were assigned to the best and worst teachers (on the effectiveness scale) is approximately 43% of a standard deviation in the distribution of exam grades, corresponding to about 5.6% of the average grade. Additionally, we find that our measure of teacher effectiveness is negatively correlated with the students' evaluations of professors: in other words, teachers who are associated with better subsequent performance receive worst evaluations from their students. We rationalize these results with a simple model where teachers can either engage in real teaching or in teaching-to-the-test, the former requiring higher students' effort than the latter. Teaching-to-the-test guarantees high grades in the current course but does not improve future outcomes. Hence, if students are myopic and evaluate better teachers from which they derive higher utility in a static framework, the model is capable of predicting our empirical finding that good teachers receive bad evaluations, especially when teaching-to-the-test is very effective. Consistently with the predictions of the model, we also find that classes in which high skill students are over-represented produce evaluations that are less at odds with estimated teacher effectiveness.


The mid-twentieth century marked one of the greatest watersheds of Asian history, when a range of imperial constructs were declared to be nation-states, either by revolution or decolonisation. Nationalism was the great alchemist, turning the base metal of empire into the gold of nations. To achieve such a transformation from the immense diversity of these Asian empires required a different set of forces from those that Europeans had needed in their transitions from multi-ethnic empires to culturally homogeneous nations. In this book Anthony Reid explores the mysterious alchemy by which new political identities have been formed. Taking Southeast Asia as his example, Reid tests contemporary theory about the relation between modernity, nationalism, and ethnic identity. Grappling with concepts emanating from a very different European experience of nationalism, Reid develops his own typology to better fit the formation of political identities such as the Indonesian, Malay, Chinese, Acehnese, Batak and Kadazan.


The difficult questions of Toomas Paul Toomas Paul, born in Tartu in 1939, is a prominent theologian, church historian, New Testament scholar and translator, as well as an essayist, and a member of Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea. He took part in the preparation of the Porvoo Common Statement (1992) and attended the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission for 12 years. Paul has published 19 books and countless articles, and still often gets press coverage concerning current problems in different fields. He is deeply interested in science and culture and has held a constant dialogue with physicists, neurologists, historians and other professionals. His sermons, articles, conversations on the radio and TV have always interested different communities due to his intellectual spirit, wittiness, honesty and broad mental horizon. At the same time, his chosen topics can be uneasy (data leaks, migration, prostitution, etc.), he is equally critical towards totalitarian and consumer societies, while he even censures some church activities. Paul studied in Tallinn and worked at eight parish churches in the countryside from 1960 to 1986. From then on he served at St John's Church in the centre of Tallinn, and, since 1989, at Sutlepa Chapel on the premises of the Estonian Open Air Museum. Among other things, Paul's connection to Tartu is that his teacher and collaborator Uku Masing (1909–1985), whose legacy he interprets and publishes to this day in cooperation with Tartu scholars, resided there. Paul received his doctoral degree (1994, on the history of Bible translation in Estonia) at the University of Tartu and has taught at and been a member of the Religious Anthropology Program Committee. Rector Volli Kalm, who presented Paul with the National Thought Award on behalf of the University of Tartu, called Paul a custodian of basic values and stressed his importance in shaping social mentality. Paul has been awarded many other prizes. In the article, I present biographical data and briefly characterize Paul as a reader and interpreter of theologians and philosophers like Meister Eckhart or Spinoza, scientists and others, as well as an author. I am also publishing an unique questionnaire that he presented to his audience already in the 1960s as a young cleric, and outline the difficult questions about religion he has raised in his publications. I quote other authors and archival sources of the Consistory of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, adding passages from Paul's personal archives and our correspondence to show why he is highly recognised in both the religious and secular societies of Estonia.


Core-based designs pose a significant test challenge. A simple and fast solution is to place a full isolation ring (i.e., boundary scan) around each core, however, the area and performance overhead for this may not be acceptable in many applications. A systematic method is presented for designing a partial isolation ring that provides the same fault coverage as a full isolation ring, but avoids adding MUXes on critical timing paths and reduces area overhead. Efficient ATPG techniques are used to analyze the user-defined logic surrounding the core and identify a maximal set of core inputs and outputs that do not need to be included in the partial isolation ring. In the case where one core is driving another core, the procedure identifies a maximal set of isolation ring elements that can be removed from the interface between the cores. Several different partial isolation ring selection strategies that vary in computational complexity are described. Experimental results are shown comparing the different strategies.


Abstract Theory suggests that early experiences may calibrate the "threshold activity" of the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis in childhood. Particularly challenging or particularly supportive environments are posited to manifest in heightened physiological sensitivity to context. Using longitudinal data from the Family Life Project (N = 1,292), we tested whether links between maternal sensitivity and hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal axis activity aligned with these predictions. Specifically, we tested whether the magnitude of the within-person relation between maternal sensitivity and children's cortisol levels, a proxy for physiological sensitivity to context, was especially pronounced for children who typically experienced particularly low or high levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Our results were consistent with these hypotheses. Between children, lower levels of mean maternal sensitivity (7–24 months) were associated with higher mean cortisol levels across this period (measured as a basal sample collected at each visit). However, the magnitude and direction of the within-person relation was contingent on children's average levels of maternal sensitivity over time. Increases in maternal sensitivity were associated with contemporaneous cortisol decreases for children with typically low-sensitive mothers, whereas sensitivity increases were associated with cortisol increases for children with typically high-sensitive mothers. No within-child effects were evident at moderate levels of maternal sensitivity.


This study gives an outlook on the usability of dissolved Ba and particulate REE as oceanographical tracers in the Arctic Ocean. From Polarstern expedition ARK-XXII/2 in summer 2007, dissolved Ba and particulate rare earth elements (REE) were analyzed in the Barents, Kara, Laptev seas, and the Eurasian Basins as well as the Makarov Basin up to and beyond the Alpha and Mendeleyev Ridges. Data on particulate REE from the Arctic Ocean are discussed in a wider context including samples from the East Atlantic and the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean.
In chapter 2 I discuss Ba as a tracer in discerning Eurasian from North American runoff together with well established water mass tracers (salinity, δ18O, nutrients). Prolonged ice-free conditions promote phytoplankton growth and thereby are influencing microbiogeochemical cycling of trace elements in the water column. Changing climate is expected to have an impact on trace element distributions in the Arctic Ocean. It has to be questioned to what extent tracers like Ba involved in biological cycles can be used in the future dependent on those changes. In the light of this question, it is shown in chapter 2 that in the Arctic Ocean Ba is involved in microbiogeochemical cycling. Ba is removed from surface waters and released to deep waters. This process masks the presence of North American runoff in surface waters and leads to an overestimation of these waters in sub-surface layers of the Makarov Basin.
In chapter 3 I investigate how dissolved Ba of intermediate and deep waters may be used together with Al and silicate to describe exchange of waters from the shelf seas with the interior basins. The vast Arctic shelves are the main source of these elements to the central Arctic Ocean. Distribution of these elements indicates deep shelf convection into the Nansen Basin north of Severnaya Zemlya. Moreover in the Makarov Basin, inflow from the Canadian Basin and overflow from the Amundsen Basin at 2000 m depth at the Lomonosov Ridge are required to explain the composition of bottom waters. This supports previous studies on the renewal of bottom waters in the Arctic basins.
Furthermore, in chapter 4 I describe REE patterns in suspended particulate matter (SPM) from surface water. REE patterns are supposed to help understanding the transport ways of particles to the water column. Input of terrigenous particles plays an important role in contributing (micro-)nutrients to the oceans and in this way is controlling biological productivity. A unique set of particulate REE from different oceanographic regimes between 88°N and 72°S has been sampled following the same sampling protocol so that comparison of REE patterns becomes possible. In the East Atlantic Ocean a clear transition can be seen from strong inputs from Saharan dust in the north of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) to low terrigenous supply in the south. In the Southern Ocean, a much stronger impact of exchange with seawater can be seen. This illustrates the contrast between the remote Southern Ocean where REE patterns are dominated by adsorption from seawater and the nearly land locked Arctic Ocean where REE patterns are fully terrigenous. The homogeneity of REE patterns in SPM from the Arctic Ocean leads to the conclusion that sources other than continental runoff, i.e., dissolved REE from seawater or REE resuspended from shelf sediments, are of minor importance regarding surface water SPM.


When discussing being stuck in a "win-win vs. win-lose" debate, most negotiation books focus on face-to-face tactics. Yet, table tactics are only the "first dimension" of David A. Lax and James K. Sebenius' pathbreaking 3-D Negotiation (TM) approach, developed from their decades of doing deals and analyzing great dealmakers. Moves in their "second dimension"--deal design--systematically unlock economic and noneconomic value by creatively structuring agreements. But what sets the 3-D approach apart is its "third dimension": setup. Before showing up at a bargaining session, 3-D Negotiators ensure that the right parties have been approached, in the right sequence, to address the right interests, under the right expectations, and facing the right consequences of walking away if there is no deal. This new arsenal of moves away from the table often has the greatest impact on the negotiated outcome. Packed with practical steps and cases, 3-D Negotiation demonstrates how superior setup moves plus insightful deal designs can enable you to reach remarkable agreements at the table, unattainable by standard tactics.


The idea of a preliminary commons – a sphere of common property prior to private property – is present in Kant's philosophy of right where, with his theory of natural law, he first makes a move towards a still underdeveloped kind of 'objective idealism'. But he cannot transform the idea of a preliminary commons into a theory of right that legitimates social institutions or a sphere of positive law because he soon turns back to the subjective idealism of his previous work in which he takes the world to be a transcendental construction of human subjects. Kant's anthropocentrism and the highlighting of private property are a direct consequence of this subjective transcendentalism. Kant's return to subjective idealism also makes it impossible for him to conceive a theory of right based on 'serviceable stewardship' and 'responsibility' rather than on private property. My claim is that in order to pass from a discourse of possession to one of responsibility it is necessary to emphasize and enlarge his theory of natural law which, I argue, tends towards 'objective idealism'. Such idealism takes 'objective reason' to be manifesting itself in the world in an almost Hegelian way – and it is not confined to the subjective consciousness of humans. Things in the world can then be endowed with intrinsic rights. It is a further claim of this paper that a consequent theory of the commons needs this transcendental complement endowing things with intrinsic rights. Alternative positions like naturalism or subjective idealism place objects in a domain 'beyond right' condemning nonhuman beings to become merely potential private property. A remodelling of Kantianism would constitute the main layer of a renewed humanism based on an enlarged idea of community and a corresponding idea of responsibility for Being.


The numerical simulation of atmospheric pollution needs long calculation times, mainly due to the chemistry involved, for example in photochemical episodes for which a lot of species and reactions must be taken into account. Parallelization can reduce these calculation times. In this work, we have made parallel computation with a Eulerian transport/chemical model with the MPI communication library. We used two PC clusters, each PC having similar CPU and memory capacity but being connected in a network with different management systems. Three cases have been simulated, an inert one, one with a simple chemical scheme (nine species and nine reactions) and the last one with a detailed chemistry mechanism (121 reactions and 63 species). With no chemistry, the efficiency falls rapidly due to communication between neighbouring blocks. With chemistry, however, the efficiency is better, and we note that the greater the number of species taken into account the higher the efficiency. This is easily explained by the absence of messages passing in chemistry parts of the program. The present simulations are representative of atmospheric pollution episodes. The efficiency for calculations with photochemistry and using eight runs is about 50%, which corresponds to a four-fold increase in speed, which is interesting only for long-term applications.


This work describes the construction and testing of a simple pressurized solvent extraction (PSE) system. A mixture of acetone:water (80:20), 80 oC and 103.5 bar, was used to extract two herbicides (Diuron and Bromacil) from a sample of polluted soil, followed by identification and quantification by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). The system was also used to extract soybean oil (70 oC and 69 bar) using pentane. The extracted oil was weighed and characterized through the fatty acid methyl ester analysis (myristic (< 0.3%), palmitic (16.3%), stearic (2.8%), oleic (24.5%), linoleic (46.3%), linolenic (9.6%), araquidic (0.3%), gadoleic (< 0.3%), and behenic (0.3%) acids) using high-resolution gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (HRGC-FID). PSE results were compared with those obtained using classical procedures: Soxhlet extraction for the soybean oil and solid-liquid extraction followed by solid-phase extraction (SLE-SPE) for the herbicides. The results showed: 21.25 ± 0.36% (m/m) of oil in the soybeans using the PSE system and 21.55 ± 0.65% (m/m) using the soxhlet extraction system; extraction efficiency (recovery) of herbicides Diuron and Bromacil of 88.7 ± 4.5% and 106.6 ± 8.1%, respectively, using the PSE system, and 96.8 ± 1.0% and 94.2 ± 3.9%, respectively, with the SLP-SPE system; limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for Diuron of 0.012 mg kg-1 and 0.040 mg kg-1, respectively; LOD and LOQ for Bromacil of 0.025 mg kg-1 and 0.083 mg kg-1, respectively. The linearity used ranged from 0.04 to 1.50 mg L-1 for Diuron and from 0.08 to 1.50 mg L-1 for Bromacil. In conclusion, using the PSE system, due to high pressure and temperature, it is possible to make efficient, fast extractions with reduced solvent consumption in an inert atmosphere, which prevents sample and analyte decomposition.


The present paper presents the opportunities to ellaborate a personalized and interactive content for teaching-learning-self assessment and assessment, with the help of a Moodle platform-the Lesson. The paper is a mini-tutorial to present the main steps which must be taken to create a lesson. The presentation of the facilities of this digital instrument ensures the understanding of the necessity and of the utility of the ellaboration of a Moodle lesson as didactic material which motivates the students to do individual study. The simplicity of the creation of such a didactic resource means, for the teachers, an argument and a challenge to capitalize their own methodical creativity. The Moodle lesson is, practically, a succession of html pages easy to fill in with information and contents enriched with explanational videos, links to different virtual sources, practical use and self-assessment tests drawn up with the help of Wiris application, which are necessary for the facilitation of the understanding and of the assimilation of the subject/theme proposed to the students for study. In the paper it is presented the Moodle lesson which was offered in the virtual environment, for individual study, as an innovative method of the Flipped classroom teaching method - a flip-flop classroom. In the last part of th paper there are capitalized two of the advantages of using the Moodle lesson in the teaching process: the resposibility given to the pupils in what regards the handling of the understanding process and the assimilation of the transmitted information, the identification of the cognitive strategies of their consolidation through the insertion of explanatory exercisses corellated with previously acquired knowledge or in the study of other objects.


When it comes to combating corporate misconduct, is more litigation necessarily better? The conventional wisdom is that we should deploy every weapon in the law's arsenal to combat corporate misconduct. This wisdom, however, reflects legal scholarship that is confined to analyzing securities class actions and derivative suits in isolation, with little inquiry into the interplay between them. By failing to take a broader view of shareholder litigation, legal scholars have missed an opportunity to provide courts with the conceptual tools necessary to meet the complex challenges of complex corporate litigation. In courtrooms and boardrooms across the country, a debate is raging over whether courts should permit shareholders to file parallel securities class actions and derivative suits arising out of the same allegations of corporate wrongdoing-a debate that has gone almost entirely unnoticed in the legal academy. The time has come for legal theory to catch up with legal practice. We must re-conceptualize the tools we use to combat corporate misconduct, recognizing that securities class actions and derivative suits can work together to achieve the diverse goals of shareholder litigation. We should then bring these new conceptual insights to bear on the current legal debate over how courts should handle parallel securities class actions and derivative suits. Now is the perfect time to calm the perfect storm of shareholder litigation.


BACKGROUND Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, with low long-term survival rates. Despite recent advances in treatment, it is important to identify and screen high-risk individuals for cancer prevention. Familial pancreatic cancer (FPC) accounts for 4%–10% of pancreatic cancers. Several germline mutations are related to an increased risk and might offer screening and therapy options. In this study, we aimed to identity of a susceptibility gene in a family with FPC. METHODS Whole exome sequencing and PCR confirmation was performed on the surgical specimen and peripheral blood of an index patient and her sister in a family with high incidence of pancreatic cancer, to identify somatic and germline mutations associated with familial pancreatic cancer. Compartment-specific gene expression data and immunohistochemistry were also queried. RESULTS The identical germline mutation of the PALLD gene (NM_001166108.1:c.G154A:p.D52N) was detected in the index patient with pancreatic cancer and the tumor tissue of her sister. Whole genome sequencing showed similar somatic mutation patterns between the 2 sisters. Apart from the PALLD mutation, commonly mutated genes that characterize pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma were found in both tumor samples. However, the 2 patients harbored different somatic KRAS mutations (G12D and G12V). Healthy siblings did not have the PALLD mutation, indicating a disease-specific impact. Compartment-specific gene expression data and IHC showed expression in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). CONCLUSION We identified a germline mutation of the palladin (PALLD) gene in 2 siblings in Europe, affected by familial pancreatic cancer, with a significant overexpression in CAFs, suggesting that stromal palladin could play a role in the development, maintenance, and/or progression of pancreatic cancer. FUNDING DFG SFB 1321


In a recent paper in Development, Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2009) reported that, in zebrafish embryos, the definitive haematopoietic cells of the trunk and tail have different differentiation outputs; that is, whereas cells in the tail can give rise to erythrocytes, those remaining in the trunk cannot. This finding that definitive erythropoiesis is absent in the trunk depends entirely on the absence of a whole-mount in situ hybridisation (WISH) signal for a single erythroid marker (e1-globin) in these cells. They then describe a series of elegant experiments to examine and to attempt to explain this differing fate. If correct, these findings would be interesting, although surprising. The finding that no definitive erythropoiesis occurs in the trunk is puzzling, because it contradicts our previously published results (Zhang and Rodaway, 2007). In this paper, we clearly showed expression of the erythroid markers gata1 and e1-globin, as well as histochemical staining for haemoglobin, in haematopoietic clusters in the trunk of embryos at 4 days post-fertilisation (dpf). In light of the Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2009) study, we repeated our experiments and confirmed that e1-globin is expressed in both trunk and tail haematopoietic cells (see Fig. S1A-C in the supplementary material), implying that both regions are erythropoietic. Detection of e1globin expression in the trunk required a longer incubation in chromogenic substrate than that in the tail, but was clearly specific. It is well known in the field that it is more difficult to detect gene expression in the trunk of older zebrafish embryos than in other tissues. To avoid reliance on the expression of a single globin mRNA, we re-examined the emergence of definitive erythropoiesis by histochemistry for haemoglobin (see Fig. S1D-P in the supplementary material). At 2 dpf, staining is strong in circulating primitive erythrocytes and clear, but weaker, staining is seen in cells lying ventral to the dorsal aorta (DA) in the tail (see Fig. S1E in the supplementary material). These might be erythroblasts derived from the transient tail erythro-myeloid progenitors, as described by Bertrand et al. (Bertrand et al., 2007). In the trunk at this stage, no staining above background can be detected in the mesenchyme between the DA and the posterior cardinal vein (PCV). By 3 dpf, however, scattered haemoglobin-expressing cells are located in the mesenchyme between the major vessels in both trunk and tail. By 4 dpf, this expression has coalesced into clusters in the trunk (typically adjacent to somite boundaries) and into a more continuous strip of cells in the tail. In both trunk and tail, the erythroblasts are on the dorsal aspect of the major vein [PCV in trunk, caudal vein (CV) in tail; see Fig. S1J,K in the supplementary material]. This expression pattern is maintained at least as late as 7 dpf. At this age, erythropoiesis is also clearly detectable in the pronephros. Both trunk and tail haematopoietic tissues are, therefore, erythropoietic. The presence of histochemically detectable haemoglobin in the trunk, along with the expression of e1-globin mRNA, implied that at least one -globin was likely to be expressed in this region. Although Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2009) reported that e1globin was not expressed in the trunk, we retested the expression of this gene by WISH. We detected expression in mesenchyme overlying the cardinal vein both in the tail and (after longer staining) in the trunk (see Fig. S1Q-T in the supplementary material). There are two possible reasons for the discrepancy between our data regarding e1globin expression and that of Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2009). Firstly, WISH detection of gene expression in the trunk of older embryos requires careful optimisation of proteinase K treatment. However, the fact that Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2009) were able to detect other mRNAs [for example, L-plastin (lcp1 – Zebrafish Information Network) and cmyb] in this region makes this explanation less likely. The second possibility is that, when probing for e1-globin, Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2009) stopped the chromogenic reaction once staining had appeared in the tail, and did not continue the reaction until trunk expression was detected. The fact that it is difficult to detect mRNA in the trunk vessels and the haematopoietic clusters of older embryos by WISH is well known in the field. The difference in WISH sensitivity is likely to result from the fact that most of the posterior blood island (PBI) is covered only by a thin layer of epidermis, whereas the trunk clusters are surrounded by other tissues that might impede access of fixative and that, once fixed, can present a barrier to probe and/or antibody penetration. Our findings also show that although globin mRNA is much harder to detect by WISH in the trunk than in the tail, the amount of haemoglobin (assayed by rate of staining by peroxidase histochemistry) is similar in the two sites. Therefore, we believe that the difficulty of detecting mRNA in trunk haematopoietic clusters in older embryos is a limitation of the WISH technique, rather than a result of genuinely lower expression levels. Finally, we tested whether the caudal haematopoietic tissue (CHT; also known as the posterior blood island, PBI) is necessary for definitive erythropoiesis. Primitive and definitive erythrocytes can be distinguished by their morphology: primitive erythrocytes are disc shaped, whereas definitive erythrocytes are rugby ball shaped (Belair et al., 2001). Primitive cells enter circulation early in the second day of development and form the majority of circulating erythrocytes as late as 5 dpf. Thereafter, they are lost from circulation (Weinstein et al., 1996) and by 7 dpf almost all the circulating erythrocytes have definitive morphology (Belair et al., 2001). In order to determine the requirement for the CHT/PBI, we surgically removed the tails of embryos either before (1 dpf, 30 embryos) or after (3.5 dpf, 30 embryos) the colonisation of the CHT/PBI by trunkderived cells described previously by Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2007). We examined these embryos at 7 dpf and, although we cannot completely exclude an effect on total number, there were ample circulating erythrocytes. Significantly, the proportion of erythrocytes with definitive morphology (~95%) was indistinguishable from unoperated controls (see Fig. S1U-Z and Appendix S1 in the supplementary material; 5 embryos per treatment). Thus, although erythropoiesis clearly does occur in the CHT/PBI, it is not the sole site of definitive erythropoiesis, nor is it indispensable. In summary, our findings show that haematopoietic cells in the trunk of zebrafish embryos: (1) express both e1and e1globin mRNA; (2) contain histochemically detectable haemoglobin; and (3) can give rise to definitive erythrocytes in the absence of the PBI/CHT. Thus, in contrast to the findings of Jin et al. (Jin et al., 2009), definitive erythropoiesis does occur in the trunk of zebrafish embryos. Development 138, 3861-3862 (2011) doi:10.1242/dev.036228 © 2011. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd


Surveys of staff and first year students from the Science, Nursing, and Engineering and Built Environment disciplines are compared to ascertain the differences between their perceptions regarding the students' mathematical preparation for their first semester of university. The surveys were conducted after students had received their results from the first semester. Unsurprisingly, the perceived capabilities in the basic topics were generally higher than the advanced topics. In general, staff were pessimistic about the students' capabilities, while students were optimistic. The pessimism of the staff appears to be linked to the diversity of the student cohort, where students who studied the higher levels of mathematics in Year 12 tended to perceive that they were well prepared, while students who studied the lower levels of mathematics (Year 10 and Mathematics A) were likely to perceive that they were inadequately prepared. This raises the possibility that the course content has been targeted below the capabilities of the higher levels of Year 12 mathematics: a prospect which should be further investigated because of its important implications. An important intervention that significantly improved the capabilities of students was the completion of tertiary pre-entry courses: these students had similar confidence to those who completed intermediate level mathematics (Mathematics B). Mandatory completion of such pre-entry courses for under-qualified students could arrest the tendency to reduce the difficulty of the mathematics in first-year university.


Along with the computer technology and the rapid development of the three dimensional imaging software and hardware technology, the three digital technology is more and more get people's attention and application. But limited graphics graphics processing power and the spread of the media has been affected by the network bandwidth, rely on increasing hardware input, not enough to solve the problem, must adopt corresponding algorithm of 3 d surface model data is compressed, can fundamentally solve this defect. Although some common compression algorithms and tools can be used to reduce the three-dimensional geometric data volume, but the efficiency is not ideal, or for some specific application doesn't fit, 3 d model with previous audio (1 d), image (2 d), video (2 d + time) of the three different media types, 3 d mesh model also show any bending, parametric characteristics of complex and the lack of a continuous nature, and define the rules of various properties on the surface of the model are sampling, which makes the classical orthogonal analysis tool 3 d geometry signals cannot be directly used for processing. Therefore, looking for a new algorithm to efficiently express 3 d model is needed. Proposed in this paper Garland compression algorithm based on surface model, this paper proposes a surface data compression algorithm based on edge collapse, and the algorithm based on quadratic error metrics calculate the edge collapse cost, and guidelines to determine the order of edge collapse, on the basis of test methods to judge the legitimacy of the shrinkage is half space, the boundary of the surface by the algorithm and model with internal synchronous compression in the region and in the case of high compression ratio can not only ensure the geometrical characteristic of the original model, and also can effectively guarantee the quality of the compression model.


G Technology stands for Fifth Generation Mobile technology. From generation 1G to 2.5G and from 3G to 5G this world of telecommunication has seen a number of improvements along with improved performance with every passing day. Fifth generation network provide affordable broadband wireless connectivity (very high speed). The paper throws light on network architecture of fifth generation technology. Currently 5G term is not officially used. In fifth generation researches are being made on development of World Wide Wireless Web (WWWW), Dynamic Adhoc Wireless Networks (DAWN) and Real Wireless World. Fifth generation focus on (Voice over IP) VOIP-enabled devices that user will experience a high level of call volume and data transmission. Wire-less system designers have been facing the continuously increasing demand for high data rates and mobility required by new wireless applications and therefore has started research on fifth generation wireless systems that are expected to be deployed beyond 2020. In this article, we propose a potential cellular architecture that separates indoor and outdoor scenarios, and discuss various promising technologies for 5G wireless communication systems, such as massive MIMO, energy-efficient communications, cognitive radio networks, and visible light communications. The proposed network is enforced by nanotechnology, cloud computing and based on all IP Platform. The main features in 5G mobile network is that user can simultaneously connect to the multiple wireless technologies and can switch between them. This forthcoming mobile technology will support IPv6 and flat IP. Index Terms- 5G, Telecommunication, Network Architecture, WWWW, DAWN.


Sexual segregation is common among marine mammals, leading to intraspecific differences in diet, diving behaviour, home range size and even latitudinal distribution and migratory patterns. Sperm whales Physeter macrocephalus present one of the most extreme examples of sexual dimorphism both in size and social structure, with males and females segregating at different latitudes across most of their range, but the underlying ecological drivers remain unclear. Studying fine-scale dietary and habitat differences where the sexes occur in sympatry could therefore provide insights into the mechanisms underpinning their large-scale segregation. In this study, we analysed the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values in the skin of males and females from an isolated, endangered population inhabiting the Mediterranean Sea, sampled in a region where the sexes occur and feed regularly in the summer months but show subtle differences in habitat preference. We found marked differences in both carbon and nitrogen isotopic values between the sexes, indicating that they could be targeting prey items in different trophic levels and habitats. Combined with the evidence from habitat modelling studies, our results suggest that female and male sperm whales segregate even in the latitudinally restricted Mediterranean population, at a much smaller scale. This sympatric, fine-scale sexual segregation suggests that reduction of competition may have been a key factor in the evolution of the social structure and large-scale latitudinal segregation of this species.


Abstract The Diana Cave in SW Romania develops along a fault line and hosts a spring of hot (Tavg = 51 °C), sulfate-rich, sodium-calcium-chloride bearing water of near-neutral pH. Abundant steam and H2S rises from the thermal water to condensate on the walls and ceiling of the cave. The sulfuric acid produced by H2S oxidation/hydrolysis causes a strong acid-sulfate weathering of the cave bedrock generating a sulfate-dominated mineral assemblage that includes rapidcreekite, Ca2(SO4)(CO3)·4H2O closely associated with gypsum and halotrichite group minerals. Rapidcreekite forms bundles of colorless tabular orthorhombic crystals elongated along [001] and reaching up to 1.5 mm in length. For verifying the hydrogen bond scheme and obtaining crystal-chemical details of the carbonate group a single-crystal structure refinement of rapidcreekite was performed. Its unit-cell parameters are: a = 15.524(2), b = 19.218(3), c = 6.161(1) Å; V = 1838.1(5) Å3, Z = 8, space group Pcnb. Chemical composition (wt%): CaO 35.65, SO3 24.97, CO2 13.7, H2O 23.9, Na2O 0.291, MgO 0.173, Al2O3 0.07, total 98.75%. The empirical formula, based on 7 non-water O atoms pfu, is: Ca1.98Na0.029Mg0.013 Al0.004(S0.971 O4)(C0.97O3)·4.13H2O. The δ34S and δ18O values of rapidcreekite and other cave sulfates range from 18 to 19.5‰ CDT and from -9.7 to 7.8‰ SMOW, respectively, indicating that the source of sulfur is a marine evaporite and that during hydration of the minerals it has been an abundant 18O exchange with percolating water but almost no oxygen is derived from O2(aq). This is the first description of rapidcreekite from a cave environment and one of the very few natural occurrences worldwide. We also report on the mineral stability and solubility, parameters considered critical to understand the co-precipitation of carbonates and sulfates, a process that has wide applications in cement industry and scaling prevention


The study sought to investigate teachers' perspectives on how the teacher education curriculum could be transformed to be relevant for basic schooling and contribute to sustainable development. The objective was to understand the views of the university lecturers, teachers in schools and teacher trainees on the relevance of the curriculum offered at a university to the school curriculum.The school curriculum reform from the National Curriculum Statement (NCS) to the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) in South Africa (SA) brought about changes in the pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and teaching approaches and teachers are obliged to keep up with these changes, understand the PCK and change their teaching approaches to fit the new curriculum. In addition, teacher trainees (university graduates) are expected to teach the same curriculum when allocated to schools for teaching practice. Based on this expectation, I argue that there seems to be an assumption that changes in the school curriculum find their way to the universities and influence the content of teacher education curriculum whereas this may not be the case. The teacher education curriculum does not focus on the content offered in schools but academic content and engages students in theories that would enable them to see the world differently.A qualitative interpretive approach to generate data through semi-structured interviews from teacher trainees, schoolteachers and university lecturers who were purposively selected was used. The approach was used in order to understand the views of the participants on how the teacher education curriculum could be transformed in order to be relevant to basic schooling. Findings revealed that the teacher education curriculum is not relevant for basic schooling in that teacher trainees are not exposed to the curriculum offered in schools; traditional teaching approaches are still used at the university whereas schools use outcomes-based approaches. As a result, teacher trainees find it difficult to navigate the system. The paper recommends that there is a need to transform the teacher education curriculum so that it becomes relevant and contributes to sustainable development.