Abstract. High-latitude peatlands contain about one third of the world's soil organic carbon, most of which is derived from partly decomposed Sphagnum (peat moss) plants. We conducted a meta-analysis based on a global data set of Sphagnum growth measurements collected from published literature to investigate the effects of bioclimatic variables on Sphagnum growth. Analysis of variance and general linear models were used to relate Sphagnum magellanicum and S. fuscum growth rates to photosynthetically active radiation integrated over the growing season (PAR0) and a moisture index. We found that PAR0 was the main predictor of Sphagnum growth for the global data set, and effective moisture was only correlated with moss growth at continental sites. The strong correlation between Sphagnum growth and PAR0 suggests the existence of a global pattern of growth, with slow rates under cool climate and short growing seasons, highlighting the important role of growing season length in explaining peatland biomass production. Large-scale patterns of cloudiness during the growing season might also limit moss growth. Although considerable uncertainty remains over the carbon balance of peatlands under a changing climate, our results suggest that increasing PAR0 as a result of global warming and lengthening growing seasons, without major change in cloudiness, could promote Sphagnum growth. Assuming that production and decomposition have the same sensitivity to temperature, this enhanced growth could lead to greater peat-carbon sequestration, inducing a negative feedback to climate change.


Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia and involves the pathological hyperphosphorylation and aggregation of the microtubule associated protein tau. Aetiological evidence, and evidence from post-mortem studies, suggests neuroinflammation to be an early mechanistic driver of AD. In murine tau models, systemic inflammation induced by either chronic or acute lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration has been reported to be a strong inducer of early tau pathology through augmenting tau hyperphosphorylation. However, the method by which LPS has been utilised to model inflammation in these studies has not always been representative of the underlying mild inflammation occurring in AD. For example, following chronic LPS administration, rapid tolerance occurs which is not representative of AD. While acute LPS administration results in a rapid pro-inflammatory response, the doses which have generally been utilised are more analogous with sepsis rather than the underlying inflammatory response observed in AD. This thesis is aimed at furthering clarifying the contribution of systemic inflammation to early tau pathology through systemic administration of low doses of LPS in the hTau model. The hTau model is thought to be the most relevant AD tau model for the expression of all 6, non-mutated, human tau isoforms on a murine tau (mTau) knockout (KO) background. However, hTau mice are associated with systemic pathologies and an increased ratio of 3R:4R tau isoforms which is not representative of AD. As the systemic pathologies are linked to the KO of mTau which consists solely of 4R tau isoforms, hTau mice were bred on a partial mTau background in the hope to avert the systemic pathologies, improve the isoform ratio and conserve the development of tau pathology. Heterozygous mTau expression in hTau/mTau+/- mice resulted in ablation of systemic pathologies, an increase in 4R tau isoforms and augmented tau hyperphosphorylation compared to hTau/mTau-/- mice, indicating the model ideal for understanding early pathological tau alterations. To determine the effect mild inflammation might have on early tau pathology in AD, tau phosphorylation, localisation and aggregation were assessed after 0, 100, 250 and 330 µg/kg (i.v.) LPS administration in 3 month old hTau/mTau+/- and hTau/mTau-/- mice during the height of the pro-inflammatory response at 4h following administration. LPS administration resulted in dose-dependent decreases in the pre-tangle associated phosphorylation epitope; pS202 in both genotypes while the post-tangle associated epitope; pS396/404 levels were selectively decreased in hTau/mTau+/- mice. On the other hand, LPS did not induce tau aggregation. To determine whether less immediate effects on tau pathology occurred, tau pathology was assessed 24h following 250 µg/kg (i.v.) LPS administration in hTau/mTau+/- mice. Tau dephosphorylation persisting at both pS202 and pS396/404 epitopes at this time point. These results suggest that systemic inflammation might play a beneficial role on tau pathology in AD.


BACKGROUND
Conducting a pragmatic randomised trial in primary care is often accompanied by practical problems. Such problems are seldom reported and may constitute useful lessons for researchers planning future trials.

AIM
To address the difficulties involved in patient recruitment and to present measures to minimise bias during outcome assessment.

METHOD
A recently conducted trial comparing the effects of corticosteroid injections and physiotherapy for painful stiff shoulder was used to illustrate problems related to patient recruitment and outcome assessment.

RESULTS
Recruitment of patients was not without difficulties despite careful preparation. Recruitment was discontinued after 20 months, when 109 of the intended 120 patients had been admitted to the trial. The shoulder trial mainly included patient-oriented subjective outcome measures. Subgroup analyses demonstrated that patient preferences might have had some influence on outcome.

CONCLUSIONS
General practitioners might be willing or unwilling to participate in research for many reasons. The researcher should take these motivations into account when inviting physicians to take part in research. Strategies to enhance enrolment should be prepared before the start of the trial. When blinding of patients is problematic, patient preferences should be assessed before randomisation and their influence on the outcome studied. Although involving a blinded independent observer enables a more objective assessment of outcome, the success of blinding should be clearly evaluated.


3D-stacked DRAM alleviates the limited memory bandwidth bottleneck that exists in modern systems by leveraging through silicon vias (TSVs) to deliver higher external memory channel bandwidth. Today's systems, however, cannot fully utilize the higher bandwidth offered by TSVs, due to the limited internal bandwidth within each layer of the 3D-stacked DRAM. We identify that the bottleneck to enabling higher bandwidth in 3D-stacked DRAM is now the global bitline interface, the connection between the DRAM row buffer and the peripheral IO circuits. The global bitline interface consists of a limited and expensive set of wires and structures, called global bitlines and global sense amplifiers, whose high cost makes it difficult to simply scale up the bandwidth of the interface within a single DRAM layer in the 3D stack. We alleviate this bandwidth bottleneck by exploiting the observation that several global bitline interfaces already exist across the multiple DRAM layers in current 3D-stacked designs, but only a fraction of them are enabled at the same time. We propose a new 3D-stacked DRAM architecture, called Simultaneous Multi-Layer Access (SMLA), which increases the internal DRAM bandwidth by accessing multiple DRAM layers concurrently, thus making much greater use of the bandwidth that the TSVs offer. To avoid channel contention, the DRAM layers must coordinate with each other when simultaneously transferring data. We propose two approaches to coordination, both of which deliver four times the bandwidth for a four-layer DRAM, over a baseline that accesses only one layer at a time. Our first approach, Dedicated-IO, statically partitions the TSVs by assigning each layer to a dedicated set of TSVs that operate at a higher frequency. Unfortunately, Dedicated-IO requires a nonuniform design for each layer (increasing manufacturing costs), and its DRAM energy consumption scales linearly with the number of layers. Our second approach, Cascaded-IO, solves both issues by instead time multiplexing all of the TSVs across layers. Cascaded-IO reduces DRAM energy consumption by lowering the operating frequency of higher layers. Our evaluations show that SMLA provides significant performance improvement and energy reduction across a variety of workloads (55%/18% on average for multiprogrammed workloads, respectively) over a baseline 3D-stacked DRAM, with low overhead.


We asked participants of a large-scale, real-life peak avoidance experiment to provide estimates of their average in-vehicle travel time for their morning commute. Comparing these reported travel times to the corresponding actual travel times, we find that travel times are overstated by a factor of 1.5 on average. We show that driverand link-specific characteristics partially explain the overstating. Using stated and revealed preference data, we investigate whether the driverspecific reporting errors are consistent with the drivers' scheduling behavior in reality as well as in hypothetical choice experiments. For neither case, we find robust evidence that drivers behave as if they misperceived travel times to a similar extent as they misreported them, implying that reported travel times do neither represent actual nor perceived travel times truthfully. The results presented in this paper are thus a strong caveat against the uncritical use of reported travel time data in transport research and policy.


Problem solving ability is one of the mathematical abilities that are important in the success of students. But the fact remains low problem solving ability. One approach that can develop problem solving ability is constructivism approachment. The constructivism approach is one of the learning approaches which can trigger students to build their own knowledge and help students find their own mathematical principles or procedures. LKPD is one important component in learning. LKPD used by teachers not specifically describe the learning process, as well as yet to be seen developing students' problem solving abilities. This study aims to determine the validity of LKPD based on constructivism approach. This research is a development research by using Plomp model which consists of preliminary research, development stage and assessment phase. The results of data analysis show that the developed LKPD has been valid with the validity index of 0,848 so it can be used to increase problem solving student ability.


Abstract Knobe argues that people's judgments of the moral status of a side-effect of action influence their assessment of whether the side-effect is intentional. I tested this hypothesis using vignettes akin to Knobe's but involving economically or eudaimonistically (wellness-related) negative side-effects. My results show that it is people's sense of what agents deserve, and not the moral status of side-effects, that drives intuition.


Pink snapper (Pagrus auratus) form spawning aggregations during the austral spring/summer in three adjacent, sheltered, coastal embayments in southwestern Australia (Cockburn Sound, Warnbro Sound and Owen Anchorage). Larval fishes were sampled in these embayments, as well as in the more exposed adjacent waters of Five Fathom Bank, to ascertain which teleost species utilised these areas for spawning concurrently with P. auratus. Obliquely towed bongo nets (500 μm mesh) were used to collect icthyoplankton in November 2007 over three days during the new moon period when spawning of P. auratus is known to peak. A total of 13 270 larvae from 30 teleost families was collected with an overall mean larval fish concentration of 1.91 m -3 (± s.e. 0.28). Larval fish assemblages were significantly different in each of the three embayments and Five Fathom Bank, reflecting the degree of shelter, water-circulation patterns and associated benthic habitats. The highest larval fish concentrations were recorded in Cockburn Sound (3.69 m -3 ± s.e. 0.05) and the lowest along Five Fathom Bank (0.16 m -3 ± s.e. 0.02). P. auratus larvae were only present in samples from the three embayments. The most abundant larvae were those of the Australian anchovy (Engraulis australis), which occurred predominantly in Cockburn Sound and, to a lesser extent, Owen Anchorage. The most ubiquitous larvae included the longspine dragonet (Callionymus goodladi) and leatherjackets (Monacanthidae). This study provides circumstantial evidence that eggs and larvae of P. auratus and other teleosts are retained in the sheltered waters of Cockburn and Warnbro Sounds during spring/summer.


Abstract Parameters from archive data of the Kalisz-Lis waterworks, located in the Prosna River valley south of Kalisz, have been analysed. Well barrier discharges groundwater from Quaternary sediments which is mixed with riverbank filtration water. The analysis focused on specific well capacity, a parameter that represents the technical and natural aspects of well life. To exclude any aging factor, an examination of specific well capacity acquired only in the first pumping tests of a new well was performed. The results show that wells drilled between 1961 and 2004 have similar values of specific well capacity and prove that > 40 years discharge has had little influence on hydrodynamic conditions of the aquifer, i.e., clogging has either not occurred or is of low intensity. This implies that, in the total water balance of the Kalisz- Lis well barrier, riverbank filtration water made little contribution. In comparison, a similar analysis of archive data on the Mosina-Krajkowo wells of two generations of well barriers located in the Warta flood plains was performed; this has revealed a different trend. There was a significant drop in specific well capacity from the first pumping test of substitute wells. Thus, long-term groundwater discharge in the Warta valley has had a great impact on the reduction of the hydraulic conductivity of sediments and has worsened hydrodynamic conditions due to clogging of river bed and aquifer, which implies a large contribution of riverbank filtration water in the total water well balance. For both well fields conclusions were corroborated by mathematical modeling; in Kalisz-Lis 16.2% of water comes from riverbank filtration, whereas the percentage for Mosina-Krajkowo is 78.9%.


This article examines how Deleuze and Guattari's rhizome concept can be applied to educational research about immigrant children's literacies and identities. It explores the intersection of literacy and identity encountered in sociocultural and poststructural (particularly a Deleuzian perspective) paradigms, reviews studies on immigrant children's literacy and identity from these two perspectives, and discusses challenges posed by each. The rhizome concept advances a new way of research about immigrant children, who are often marginalized by the dominant school culture. This new way of research emphasizes literacy as a process of becoming, highlighting immigrant children's multilinguality, creativity, and intersections of multiple literacies across school, home and community and across global and local contexts and the fluidity of their identities. The paper finally calls for an awareness of the complications, connections and multiplicities that literacy research confronts concerning immigrant children and puts forward some pedagogical implications.


Although China has been involved in twenty-three territorial disputes with its neighbors since 1949, it has used force in only six of them. The strength of a state's territorial claim, defined as its bargaining power in a dispute, offers one explanation for why and when states escalate territorial disputes to high levels of violence. This bargaining power depends on the amount of contested land that each side controls and on the military power that can be projected over the entire area under dispute. When a state's bargaining power declines relative to that of its adversary, its leaders become more pessimistic about achieving their territorial goals and face strong preventive motivations to seize disputed land or signal resolve through the use of force. Cross-sectional analysis and longitudinal case studies demonstrate that such negative shifts in bargaining power explain the majority of China's uses of force in its territorial disputes.


'The Spirit Level' by Wilkinson and Pickett (2009) provides a serious critique of inequality and how it blights the lives of many people in high-income countries. Unfolding in two main sections, this paper initially outlines Wilkinson's thesis generally before focusing and initiating a debate on Wilkinson and Pickett's suggestion of economic democracy (increased employee control and participation) as a means to tackle inequality. The wider literature supports their assertion of the potential of economic democracy to do so. Two obstacles, employee's 'damaged' subjectivities and meaningful control, are subsequently identified as barriers, to realising meaningful economic democracy. A possible solution to these obstacles is provided by the work of Gardell (1982) on the AB Almex plant, where workers introduced a very robust form of economic democracy. The lessons from this period could prove instructive for any current or future debates on the relationships between equality, well-being and the workplace.


More than 700 thousand human deaths from mosquito bites are observed annually in the world. It is more than 2 times the number of annual murders in the world. In this regard, the invention of new more effective methods of protection against mosquitoes is necessary. In this article for the first time, comprehensive studies of mosquito neutralization using machine vision and a 1 W power laser are considered. Developed laser installation with Raspberry Pi that changing the direction of the laser with a galvanometer. We developed a program for mosquito tracking in real. The possibility of using deep neural networks, Haar cascades, machine learning for mosquito recognition was considered. We considered in detail the classification problems of mosquitoes in images. A recommendation is given for the implementation of this device based on a microcontroller for subsequent use as part of an unmanned aerial vehicle. Any harmful insects in the fields can be used as objects for control.


In order to obtain novel polar κ agonists the κ-pharmacophoric ethylenediamine structural element was embedded in a rigid bicyclic scaffold. The pyridooxazine system was selected since it contains polar O- and N-atoms in the 1- and 7-positions, respectively. An axially oriented pyrrolidine ring was attached at the 5-position and the dichlorophenylacetyl moiety was introduced at N-4. The key steps of the 11-step synthesis are a double Henry reaction of iminodiacetaldehyde 7 with nitromethane and the introduction of the azido moiety of 13 by Mitsunobu reaction of the alcohol 11 with Zn(N3)2·(pyridine)2. The X-ray crystal structure analysis of 17b shows a dihedral angle N(acyl)-C-C-N(pyrrolidine) of −60.8(2)°, which is close to the postulated optimal angle. Moderate κ affinity was found for the secondary amine 17a (Ki = 132 nM) and the methyl derivative 17b (Ki = 266 nM). In the [35S]GTPγS assay the secondary amine 17a showed 28% agonistic activity compared to U-69,593. Although 17a and 17b contain all crucial κ-pharmacophoric elements, their κ affinity is rather low, which might be attributed to the unfavorable cis-orientation of the pyrrolidine ring and the dichlorophenylacetamido moiety and/or the additional O- and N-atoms in the 1- and 7-positions.


x Since nonprofit organizations play an important role in providing goods and services in all countries, this paper aims at determining optimal policies for a charity. The starting point of our analysis is that the amount of donations received by a charity are function of its reputation, which is an asset that can be built up over time, not overnight. To account for this important aspect, we propose a dynamic model where the charity can allocate its revenues to three main activities, namely, program expenses (charitable projects), information (promotion of its causes, website, etc.) and administration (worker/manager salaries and other administrative costs). We assume that the donors are sensitive to the way in which the charity is managed. If the administrative expenses are above a socially accepted norm, then the charity's reputation suffers. The opposite occurs when the charity is efficient and keeps its administrative costs below the norm. We prove that depending on the parameter values, there exist different optimal policies involving either positive or nil advertising and administrative expenses. We discuss some policy implications for each case and assess the impact of the norm on the results.


The AffectButton is a self-report tool that enables users to report upon their emotion, mood or attitude about things. It is a simple interactive button that presents a dynamically changing facial expression. The expression generated by the AffectButton changes based on mouse movement insight the button and the user selects the expression that best matches his or her feeling. In doing so, the user in fact enters three values on the well-known affective dimensions Pleasure (Valence), Arousal and Dominance. The resulting values and the usability of the AffectButton have been extensively evaluated. Here we give a short summary of the motivation, findings and recent developments.


Validity and reliability of research and its results are important elements to provide evidence of the quality of research in the organizational field. However, validity is better evidenced in quantitative studies than in qualitative research studies. As there is diversity within qualitative research methods and techniques, there is no universally accepted criteria to assess validity in qualitative studies; its usefulness is also questioned. Therefore, in this paper, we argue that qualitative research should adopt a processual view approach of validity since it should not be the product of a single test or just one step in the research. Processual validity both supports good research and helps in its reflection and guidance. To illustrate our approach, we present the processual approach adopted by one of the coauthors during the development of a research project. We highlight the validity assurance activities for both ex ante and ex post research, peer review and participation in an international conference, which corroborated the quality of the processual approach and the results that were obtained.


Several MCAO systems are under study to improve the angular resolution of the current and of the future generation large ground-based telescopes (diameters in the 8-40 m range). The subject of this PhD Thesis is embedded in this context. Two MCAO systems, in dierent realization phases, are addressed in this Thesis: NIRVANA, the 'double' MCAO system designed for one of the interferometric instruments of LBT, is in the integration and testing phase; MAORY, the future E-ELT MCAO module, is under preliminary study.
These two systems takle the sky coverage problem in two dierent ways. The layer oriented approach of NIRVANA, coupled with multi-pyramids wavefront sensors, takes advantage of the optical co-addition of the signal coming from up to 12 NGS in a annular 2' to 6' technical FoV and up to 8
in the central 2' FoV. Summing the light coming from many natural sources permits to increase the limiting magnitude of the single NGS and to improve considerably the sky coverage. One of the two Wavefront Sensors for the mid-
high altitude atmosphere analysis has been integrated and tested as a stand- alone unit in the laboratory at INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna and afterwards delivered to the MPIA laboratories in Heidelberg, where was
integrated and aligned to the post-focal optical relay of one LINC-NIRVANA arm. A number of tests were performed in order to characterize and optimize the system functionalities and performance. A report about this work is
presented in Chapter 2.
In the MAORY case, to ensure correction uniformity and sky coverage, the LGS-based approach is the current baseline. However, since the Sodium layer is approximately 10 km thick, the articial reference source looks elongated,
especially when observed from the edge of a large aperture. On a 30-40 m class telescope, for instance, the maximum elongation varies between few arcsec and 10 arcsec, depending on the actual telescope diameter, on the Sodium layer properties and on the laser launcher position. The centroiding error in a Shack-Hartmann WFS increases proportionally to the elongation (in a photon noise
dominated regime), strongly limiting the performance. To compensate for this effect a straightforward solution is to increase the laser power, i.e. to increase the number of detected photons per subaperture. The scope of Chapter 3 is
twofold: an analysis of the performance of three dierent algorithms (Weighted Center of Gravity, Correlation and Quad-cell) for the instantaneous LGS image position measurement in presence of elongated spots and the determination of the required number of photons to achieve a certain average wavefront error over the telescope aperture. An alternative optical solution to the spot
elongation problem is proposed in Section 3.4. Starting from the considerations presented in Chapter 3, a first order analysis of the LGS WFS for MAORY (number of subapertures, number of detected photons per subaperture, RON,
focal plane sampling, subaperture FoV) is the subject of Chapter 4. An LGS WFS laboratory prototype was designed to reproduce the relevant aspects of an LGS SH WFS for the E-ELT and to evaluate the performance of different centroid algorithms in presence of elongated spots as investigated numerically and analytically in Chapter 3. This prototype permits to simulate realistic Sodium proles. A full testing plan for the prototype is set in Chapter 4.


AIMS
Treatment of saphenous vein graft (SVG) disease is still a matter of debate given the uncertainty of the available conflicting data. Our aim was to assess, by means of a meta-analytic approach, the risk/benefit profile of drug eluting stents (DES) versus bare metal stents (BMS) in the treatment of SVG disease.

METHODS AND RESULTS
A search of relevant studies in several databases was performed. The endpoints of interest such as: major adverse events (MAE) (the combination of overall death and non-fatal myocardial infarction [AMI]), target vessel revascularisation (TVR), and target lesion revascularisation (TLR) have been calculated in-hospital and at the longest follow-up. Single endpoints and the rate of stent thrombosis (ST) were also assessed. Three randomised controlled trials and 15 registry studies were appraised, totalling 3,294 patients. During hospitalisation, there was no difference in the risk of MAE, overall death, AMI and TVR. No data were available to calculate the TLR rate. At a mean follow-up of 19.8 months, no significant differences were found in the risk of MAE and AMI. BMS were associated with a trend towards a higher risk of overall death (OR 1.32 [1,00-1.74], p=0.05, number needed to treat [NNT]=55). DES showed superiority in terms of TVR (OR 1.86 [1.33-2.61], p=0.0003, NNT=16), and TLR (OR 1.77 [1.27-2.48], p<0.0001, NNT=25). According to pre-specified subgroup analyses, these effects seem less evident at the long-term follow-up. DES were not associated with an increased risk of ST.

CONCLUSIONS
Use of DES in SVG substantially reduces both TVR and TLR. These data also demonstrate that using DES in SVG is safe and contradict previous reports of potential risks.


Purpose: With the popularity of cloud computing, cloud services have become to be application programming platform where users can create new applications mashup(composing) the functionality offered byothers.By composing of distributed, cloud services dynamicallyto provide more complex tasks, services mashup provides an attractive way for building large-scale Internetapplications.Oneof the challenging issues of cloud services mashup is how to find service paths to route the service instances provider through whilemeeting the applications' resource requirements so that the QoS constraints are satisfied. However, QoS aware service routing problem istypically NP-hard.The purpose of this paper is to propose a QoS Aware Services Mashup(QASM) model to solve this problem more effectively. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, we focus on the QoS aware services selection problem in cloud services mashup, for example, given the user service composition requirements and their QoS constraint descriptions, how to select the required serviceinstances and route the data flows through these instances so that the QoS requirements are satisfied. We design a heuristic algorithm to find service paths to route the data flows through whilemeeting the applications' resource requirements and specific QoS constraints. Findings: This study propose a QoS Aware Services Mashup(QASM) model to solve this problem more effectively. Simulations show that QASM can achieve desired QoS assurances as well as load balancing in cloud services environment. Originality/value: This paperpresent a QASM model for providing high performance distributedapplications in the cloud computing systems.


Detection and enumeration of L. monocytogenes have been carried out in 385 samples of raw materials, fermented sausages and environments of different processing plants located in Sardinia (Italy). A subset of ninety - seven strains isolated during a period from 2004 to 2011 were characterized by multiplex PCR-based serogrouping, multiplex PCRs for the presence of virulence genes, PFGE, and quantitative assessment of the in vitro biofilm formation. In addition, Relative and Absolute Quantification of genes expression of pocR , mdr , eutG and cbiD , probably involved in the persistence of the pathogen in the environment have been evaluated, in persistent and non-persistent isolates by Real-Time PCR. The 22% of the samples were positive for the presence of L. monocytogenes . The 31.51% and 15% of the samples tested, food and environment, respectively, were positive for Listeria monocytogenes. Isolates were serotyped as 1/2a, 1/2c, 1/2c and 4b, and presented all the considered virulence genes. PFGE revealed a high heterogeneity of pulsotypes within the plants. PFGE results did not showed the presence of persistent strains among the selection included in this study. The 44% of the tested strains were able to attach to abiotic surfaces forming biofilm. Relative and Absolute qRTi-PCR showed that the genes selected were not involved in persistence.


Microbes in fragmented environments profit from yield-efficient metabolic strategies, which allow for a maximal number of cells. In contrast, cells in well-mixed, nutrient-rich environments need to grow and divide fast to out-compete others. Paradoxically, a fast growth can entail wasteful, yield-inefficient modes of metabolism and smaller cell numbers. Therefore, general trade-offs between biomass yield and growth rate have been hypothesized. To study the conditions for such rate-yield trade-offs, we considered a kinetic model of E. coli central metabolism and determined flux distributions that provide maximal growth rates or maximal biomass yields. In the model, maximal growth rates or yields are achieved by sparse flux distributions called elementary flux modes (EFMs). We screened all EFMs in the network model and computed the biomass yields and growth rates enabled by these EFMs. Growth rates were computed from the amount of protein required to sustain a given biomass production, computed from the kinetic model by enzyme cost minimization (ECM). In a scatter plot between the growth rates and yields of all EFMs, a trade-off shows up as a Pareto front. At reference glucose and oxygen levels, we find that the rate-yield trade-off is almost negligible. However, in low-oxygen environments, a clear trade-off emerges: low-yield fermentation EFMs allow for a growth 2-3 times faster than the maximal-yield EFM. The trade-off is therefore strongly condition-dependent and should be almost unnoticeable at high oxygen and glucose levels, the typical conditions in laboratory experiments. Our public web service www.neos-guide.org/content/enzyme-cost-minimization allows users to run ECM to compute enzyme costs for metabolic models flux distributions of their choice.


Background: Infertility is a major concern in clinical practice due to its impact on the psychosocial life of the patient.Varicocele has been established as a leading cause of infertility. The study reviewed varicocele associated infertility and the outcome of its management. Aim: To review varicocele associated infertility and the effect of varicocelectomy on the outcome of management. Patient and methods: All patients with varicoceele associated infertility managed in UMTH between January 2007 and December 2011 were studied. Results: Fourty seven patients were analysed. Age ranged from 21 – 53 years with a mean of 37.28 years and SD of 6.89, with peak age group 31 – 40 years. Associated medical conditions were hypertension, diabetes and obesity. Bilateral varicoceles were seen in 37. Seminal fluid analysis showed normal in 27.66%, oligospermia in 32.30% and azospermia in 34.04%. Hormonal assay revealed normal findings in 44.68%, hyperprolactinaemia in 23.40%, low testosterone in 19.15% and both hyperprolatinaemia and low testosterone in 12.76%. Testicular biopsy showed normal 6.38%, arrest of spermatogenesis at various stages in 14.89%, while in 12.77% there was no evidence of viable spermatogenesis. Responses to treatment were complete in 34.04%, partial in 38.30%, while 27.66% did not respond to treatment. The optimum response was seen 18 months after varicocelectomy.


Recent advances in optical coherence tomography (OCT) technology have allowed the introduction of OCT into the operating room. Intraoperative OCT (iOCT) has been utilized to visualize the retinal architecture prior, during, and following several retinal surgical technics. The identification of epiretinal, subretinal, and intraretinal changes is one of the crucial points in PVR management. The iOCT can identify intraretinal changes and/ or subretinal PVR membranes which cannot be easily peeled as epiretinal membranes. Intraretinal forms are especially difficult to identify preoperatively but their presence may be crucial in surgical management because the attempt to remove the presumed membrane may result in severe retinal tissue damage and iatrogenic tears. Therefore, surgical technique and even tamponade choice may be seriously affected by OCT imaging results.


The definition of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ) was recently broadened and it is now known as medication-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (MRONJ). To date, the management of MRONJ is controversial. Conservative treatment is recommended, but it is difficult to successfully treat stage 3 MRONJ. Administration of teriparatide for the MRONJ treatment has only been documented in independent case reports and there are few reports on men with MRONJ treated with teriparatide. An 81-year-old man was referred in May 2014 for treatment of an unhealed tooth extraction wound in the mandible. He took minodronic acid hydrate (1 mg/d orally) for 2 years because of osteoporosis cure. On clinical examination, soft tissue swelling in the left mandibular first molar region extended to the inferior border of the mandible with extraoral fistula. Computed tomography (CT) revealed osteolysis extending to the inferior border resulting in pathologic fracture of mandibular bone. Based on these findings, a diagnosis of stage 3 MRONJ was made. We performed conservative treatment, including amoxicillin, but his symptoms did not improve. He was then treated with once-weekly subcutaneous injection of teriparatide. Although teriparatide injections were started without antibiotics, after 1 week, swelling, erythema, and purulent discharge from the extraoral fistula increased rapidly. Therefore, we combined the once-weekly teriparatide injection with amoxicillin administration. Three months later, the osteonecrosis had healed and CT showed significant bone regeneration and healing of the mandibular pathologic fracture. In addition, the mandibular fistula showed healing and the intraoral fistula was covered with normal mucosa.


This article examines the relationship between popular music, memory and cultural identity. It draws upon narrative approaches to memory and identity in order to explore how engagement with music from the past can both afford and constrain identity construction. On the basis of in-depth interviews with, among others, heritage practitioners and audience members, I discuss how practices in the cultural and heritage industries affect the way in which popular music's past is narrated. Although those narratives offer a sense of belonging and identity through their connection to experiences of time and place, there are also factors that compromise this potential. The article discusses limits to the accuracy of memories and impediments to representations of local diversity. Furthermore, I argue that copyright regulation affects which stories about popular music's past can be told.


Industrial, agricultural, and domestic activities of humans have affected the environmental system, resulting in drastic problems such as global warming and the generation of wastewater containing high levels of pollutants. As water of good quality is a precious commodity and available in limited amounts, it has become highly imperative to treat wastewater for removal of pollutants. In addition, the rapid modernization of society has also led to the generation of huge amount of materials of little value that have no fruitful use. Such materials are generally considered as waste, and their disposal is a problem. Also, there are some materials that are available in nature that have little or no use. The utilization of all such materials as low-cost adsorbents for the treatment of wastewater may make them of some value. An effort has been made to give a brief idea of an approach to wastewater treatment, particularly discussing and highlighting in brief the low-cost alternative adsorbents with a view to utilizing these waste/low-cost materials.


In terms of gender equity the first two decades of South African democracy have seen substantial change – at least where legislation is concerned. In terms of daily lived realities however, such change seems to have had little or no impact. South African women continue to take primary responsibility for reproductive work and continue to dominate the ranks of the poor. Levels of gender based violence remain amongst the highest in the world. The last decade or so has seen scholars offer a range of overlapping and intersecting explanations for the slow pace of change, with some pointing to the lack of significant political commitment and the roles of 'custom' and 'tradition'. Others have suggested that change requires working more directly with boys and men. Despite these observations – and concomitant interventions - movement towards gender equity remains slow. In this paper I hope to contribute to the debate around resistance to change by drawing on student engagement with, and understandings of, an introduction to gender studies course between 2013 and 2014 at the University of the Western Cape. In the paper I reflect on ways in which teaching gender through a focus on men and masculinities offers insights into resistance to gender equity as well as possibilities for challenging such resistance.


Previous experiments have shown that people miss a visible but unexpected object in a field of other objects when engaged in an attentionally demanding task. Yet no previous experiment has examined the extreme case of blindness to a single object appearing alone in the visual field. In two experiments we evaluated whether a perceiver's prior expectations could alone obliterate his or her awareness of a salient visual stimulus. To establish expectancy, observers first made a demanding visual discrimination on each of three baseline trials. Then, on a fourth, critical trial, a single, salient and highly visible object appeared in full view at the center of the visual field and in the absence of any competing visual input or competing task demands. Surprisingly, fully half of the participants were unaware of the solitary object in front of their eyes. Yet in a control condition these same observers easily detected the same object in the same screen position. Dramatically, observers were even blind when the only stimulus on display was the face of U.S. President Barack Obama. We term this novel, counterintuitive phenomenon, Barack Obama Blindness (BOB). Employing a method that rules out putative memory effects by probing awareness immediately after presentation of the critical stimulus, we demonstrate that the BOB effect is a true failure of conscious vision. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2015.


The present study compared the pass/refer results of traditional ASHA recommended hearing screenings to transient evoked otoacoustic emissions (TEOAEs), distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAEs), and screening tympanometry among young students at a rural, medically underserved population at an elementary school. Sixty-seven students (31 boys and 36 girls) from kindergarten to 3rd grade participated in this study. Ten were Hispanic and had English as a second language. Each child had his/her hearing screened at 500 Hz and by the ASHA recommended method for pure tone screenings and by TEOAEs and DPOAEs. Tympanometry was also performed on 53 students. The results revealed that of the 67 children screened: 9% passed the ASHA recommend pure tone screening with the addition of 500 Hz, 58% passed the ASHA recommended pure tone audiometry, 53% passed tympanometry, 78% passed the TEOAE, and 87% passed the DPOAE screenings. Early identification of hearing impairment is crucial for academic success; therefore, the screening process must be increased sensitivity and specificity. As shown by this study, the inclusion of objective measures increased the sensitivity and specificity, and decreased the evaluation time per child. These results should encourage audiologists and school personnel to examine the substitution of objective screening tools for subjective screening tools in the future, or at the very least incorporate them into the screening protocol.


John Hick (1922-2012) was an extremely influential philosopher of religion who wrote ground-breaking essays in the areas of religious epistemology, religious pluralism, and the problem of evil. With specific reference to the latter, in his book Evil and the God of Love(1966), Hick devised what has come to be known as the "soul-making theodicy" – in essence, Hick argues that one of the reasons God allows so much apparently pointless suffering in the world is because it is an essential aspect of advancing our moral and spiritual education. Although perhaps an unlikely venue, I will argue that Disney/Pixar's 2015 animated film Inside Out can help us see how suffering serves the role Hick attributes to it. One of the film's many messages is that suffering not only forms the foundation for the cultivation of compassion and human intimacy, but is an indispensable aspect of attaining a healthy moral, spiritual, intellectual, and mental maturity. While there is little to suggest that Inside Out 's director Peter Docter had theodicies specifically in mind while making the film (though he has admitted that his Christian views have infused his films in the past), the fact that we can appeal to philosophy and theology to further our understanding of the film's themes illustrates the connection these fields of study can have to (secular) popular culture, and that theists and non-theists can find common language to talk about the perennial philosophical issues that permeate human existence.


Summary: This report This report presents the findings from a small-scale study of teachers' views on the potential of translanguaging as a classroom pedagogy in Gaelic-medium education (GME). What is translanguaging? Translanguaging refers to the pedagogical use of two languages in a language immersion classroom: both the target language (i.e. Gaelic in Gaelic-medium classrooms), and the other language widely spoken by pupils in the class (i.e. English in the case of most Gaelic-medium pupils). Interest in translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy initially emerged in Welsh-medium education in the 1990s, but has grown world-wide, particularly over the last decade. Several studies have been conducted in Wales and in the USA, and researchers in the Basque Country and in Ireland are beginning to explore the potential of this approach. As far as we are aware, there have been no Scottish studies to date. What are the potential benefits of translanguaging as a pedagogical strategy? It is argued that translanguaging benefits learners in language immersion settings because it facilitates the development of flexible bilingualism – the ability to move easily between two languages – and that this is a factor underpinning certain cognitive advantages that bilinguals are known to acquire by virtue of using two languages from an early age. More pragmatically, proponents of translanguaging argue that it supports both content and language learning in immersion settings, because pupils learn to draw on both their languages to understand and process information. Research methods: As translanguaging is not currently in use as a pedagogical strategy in GME schools, this study set out to explore teachers' perspectives on its potential. Six groups of practising and prospective GME teachers were invited to take part in professional development sessions run by the researchers. Following a pre-session reading from Colin Baker's Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (2011) on translanguaging (pp 288-291), each session consisted of a presentation in which the researchers introduced translanguaging to the group; and a focus group discussion, facilitated by the researchers, in which the participants were asked to comment and explore the ideas they had encountered. There were 17 participants in total, from two primary and two secondary schools, and in each case, one from an urban and one from an island location; and a group of future GME teachers, which included prospective primary and secondary teachers. Teachers in this group were adult learners of Gaelic. Analysis: The focus group discussions, which largely took place in Gaelic, were recorded and transcribed, and have been analysed, using a thematic content analysis approach. Findings: concerns and questions The findings indicate that participants had significant concerns about translanguaging. They also raised a number of questions about possible use in GME classrooms. Their concerns derived from a sense that translanguaging is counter-intuitive in the context of language immersion, where the assumption is that the greater the exposure to Gaelic, the better children will acquire it. It contradicts current policy and practice, which mandate Gaelic at all times in the early years and a gradual, but strictly limited introduction of English from the mid primary years onwards. There is a strong consensus among teachers, policy-makers, parents, pupils and the wider community concerned with GME that this approach effectively secures GME pupils' Gaelic and supports Gaelic revitalisation. Their questions reflect a recognition that English is, nevertheless, in use in GME classrooms, principally because a lack of resources in Gaelic sometimes entails the use of resources in English (particularly online resources). The discussion focused on how these resources are used, and how teachers scaffold the work based on them, to enable pupils to move from English to Gaelic in discussions and written outputs. This led to consideration of whether particular subject areas or particular stages in pupils' careers are more suited to translanguaging, and whether translanguaging could mediate tensions that teachers sometimes encounter between the demands of ensuring that pupils develop high standards of competence in Gaelic and expectations that pupils will cover the same curriculum as their peers in English-medium classrooms. Participants recognised that the emphasis that proponents of translanguaging place on pupils' emerging bilingualism differs in some respects from the current focus in GME on pupils' competence in Gaelic. They considered whether there would be advantages in adopting a pedagogical approach which more overtly addresses this aspect of immersion pupils' learning. They identified a number of areas in which translanguaging might be of benefit, including helping pupils to make connections between Gaelic and English; helping them to develop metalinguistic awareness in relation to both languages; supporting the learning of a third language; helping pupils to learn through another language; and engaging parents more effectively in their children's learning. However, they concluded that more research would be needed to demonstrate that translanguaging effectively delivers these kinds of benefits; and that much work would be needed to change current attitudes, given the consensus that current provision meets both learner needs and revitalisation goals. Discussion: In our discussion of the findings, we focus on the following questions that the work has raised for us: •Why is translanguaging on the rise? •What are the goals of Gaelic-medium education and to what extent do current policy and practice achieve these? •How is English currently used in GME classrooms? What are the implications a) for the development of children's Gaelic; b) for the development of their bilingualism; c) for children's learning? •Can translanguaging benefit minoritised languages? Conclusions and recommendations In conclusion, we briefly review the most recent literature on translanguaging as a transformative pedagogical strategy noting, critically, that this entails a move from a language immersion model based on the concept of additive bilingualism (where learners add new languages without detriment to those they already know) to dynamic bilingualism (where learners use and expand their full linguistic repertoire to learn). In line with this literature, participants in our study recognised their responsibilities to GME pupils in relation to supporting content learning and providing opportunities to develop appropriate linguistic practices for academic purposes; and expressed a cautious interest in the potential of translanguaging to enhance this work. They also noted challenges in relation to opportunities for recognising pupils' bilingualism and emerging bilingual identities. Participants felt that further research was needed to establish the effectiveness of translanguaging and we support this view, recommending, therefore, that a research agenda is developed in collaboration with all stakeholders.


Tools to describe isostructurality are important in the understanding of close packing principles and in the fine-tuning of crystal properties. In order to present how different methods work in practice, a series of 2-phenylbenzimidazole derivatives substituted on the phenyl ring in the ortho, meta and para positions or simultaneously in two different positions by F, Cl and Br were selected. The flexibility of the phenylbenzimidazole frame permits a gradual isostructural change of the structures with step-by-step alteration of the internal arrangement as well as of the lengths of the unit cells perpendicular to the determining N–H⋯N hydrogen bonded chains. The exchange of the different halogen substituents alters the angle between the neighbouring benzimidazole moieties and the system of the secondary interactions, and finally the isostructurality is terminated. The series of isostructural crystals look like a lab jack lifted at different heights. Although the neighbouring members of the series are highly similar, the extremes of the list vary deliberately keeping the space group and Z. This raises the question about the extents of structural differences what we still consider isostructural. The preference of certain intermolecular interactions divides the investigated isostructural Pbca crystals into two subgroups like a switch. The definition of isostructurality does not consider supramolecular similarity, although it may have a determining role as shown. It is presented how isostructurality can be described by numerical descriptors. Cell similarity (π), isostructurality (Is), and molecular isometricity indices are calculated. Correlations of the molecular conformation, secondary interactions and the crystallographic parameters are revealed by statistical methods. With the use of these methods, we provide an easy way to recognise and to characterize isostructurality. We show that the prerequisites of isostructurality are the similar composition and conformation of the compounds, with their analogous molecular and supramolecular arrangement in the crystals having the same space group and Z. Exploitation of the Cambridge Structural Database for systematical investigations to complete the isostructural series is essential.


This study reports the first description of the gastrointestinal (GIT) morphology of a lemur species (Cheirogaleus major É. Geoffroy, 1812) of the family Cheirogaleidae using a museum collection deposited at the Natural History Museum, London. Knowledge on GIT morphology is the key to assessment of the diet of animals, especially those that are highly threatened. Several studies predicted the demise of lemurs (>100 species representing 20% of the world's primate diversity) by 2080 unless the conservation community acts quickly. In this context, museum collections could provide valuable evidence on the biology of lemurs to underpin conservation protocols. The feeding ecology of the omnivorous Cheirogaleus major is poorly known due to its secretive periods of hibernation and daily torpor, nocturnal activity and solitary foraging habit. To better understand the biology of C. major, we described and compared its GIT morphology with those of six other species for which we have published data, especially the frugivore taxa (Eulemur coronatus Grey, 1842 and Varecia variegata Kerr, 1792). Our findings showed that C. major has a GIT morphology similar to those of E. coronatus and V. variegata. This is especially the case because of its caecum, which is short and only slightly sacculated suggesting that it is not suitable for microbial breakdown of plant cell wall (unlike those of Propithecus species, Lemur catta, and Hapalemur griseus). This result is in line with ecological studies suggesting that C. major obtains its protein and carbohydrate intake from fruits and to some extent arthropods and not from the digestion of leaves as previously hypothesized. In light of this new evidence, conservation programmes should account for both the lemur and its associated flora. Overall, this study demonstrates the unique potential of museum collections to study the nutritional ecology of threatened animals and their potential role in supporting conservation.


The Laramide orogeny had a spatially variable lifespan, which we explain using a geodynamic model that incorporates onset and demise of flat-slab subduction. Laramide shortening and attendant uplift began in southeast California (USA) at ca. 90 Ma, swept to the northeast to arrive in the Black Hills of South Dakota (USA) at ca. 60 Ma, and concluded in South Dakotawithin ∼10 m.y. During subsequent slab rollback, the areal extent of Laramide deformation decreased as the eastern edge of active deformation retreated to the southwest rapidly from ca. 55 to 45 Ma and more slowly from ca. 45 to 40 Ma, with deformation ultimately ceasing in the southwestern part of the orogen at ca. 30 Ma. Geodynamic modeling of this process suggests that changes in the strength of the North America plate and densifcation of the Farallon plate played important roles in controlling the areal extent of the Laramide orogen and hence the lifespan of the orogenic event at any particular location in western North America.


Frank Wright believed that the defining factor in the emergence of modern ethnicity is 'a crisis of assimilation' resulting in persistent and potentially violent antagonism between an emergent staatsvolk and its unassimilated competitors. As 'the internal other' represents a real danger, national self-assertion becomes the dominant mode of democratic political experience. Northern Ireland is a paradigmatic ethnic frontier but an unusual one. Partition and devolution allowed it to be abandoned until 1969. The desire for containment after 1972 forced both Britain and Ireland into a new search for transcendent authority. The pre-eminent pattern of politics since then is of increased British–Irish cooperation in the search for a viable order. Does the Agreement represent truce or a transformation? The article considers the enormous challenges to alternatives to containment and concludes that the current political arrangements have not ultimately addressed this question. Wright controversially offers the crucifixion of Christ as the emergence into history of the story of history as told from human suffering and against the rationale of violent victory – against Heraclitus. Embarrassing or not, Wright's importance is to understand that this dilemma lies at the heart of peace-building in Northern Ireland and increasingly highlights the limits of politics.


Laboratory methods are essential for the diagnosis of Mycoplasmal infection. There are three laboratory approaches are essential for the diagnosis of Mycoplasmal infection in chicken including direct methods by culture method and polymerase chain reaction, and indirect methods by detection of Mycoplasmal antibodies by serological tests. This study aimed to detection of Mycoplasma by culture and PCR technique. Two hundred seventy-six samples were collected from infected adult boiler chicken in Salah Al-din province which suffering from respiratory signs and /or joint infection, 202 respiratory and 74 articular samples. According to the results of culture, Mycoplasma isolated in rate of 35.1% (36.6% from respiratory samples and 31.1% from articular samples). The sensitivity of culture was 100%, while the specificity of culture was 97.9% when comparing with PCR results. The current study concluded that the respiratory infection was more than articular infections, and Mycoplasma gallisepticum more distributed than Mycoplasma synoviae among chickens.


EVALUATING A BRIEF WEB-BASED PREVENTION INTERVENTION FOR RISKY ALCOHOL USE AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS By Zoe E. Neale, B.A. A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016 Major Director: Danielle M. Dick, Ph.D. Departments of Psychology, African American Studies, and Human & Molecular Genetics The purpose of this study was to evaluate a brief, web-based alcohol prevention intervention program as a universal approach to addressing the range of alcohol behaviors present on college campuses. The sample of freshman college students recruited from Spit for Science (Dick et al., 2014) included 153 intervention participants, and 151 control participants matched on demographics and baseline alcohol variables. Hierarchical multiple regression, logistic regression, and moderated multiple regression were used to compare intervention and control participants on post-intervention alcohol variables. Treatment predicted lower alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms, particularly among baseline drinkers. For non-drinkers, the intervention was associated with a decreased likelihood of alcohol initiation. Family history moderated the intervention's effect on drinks per occasion and AUD symptoms, with family history positive individuals responding better to the intervention. Readiness-to-change and concern for one's drinking were not supported as moderators, suggesting more research is needed to identify mechanisms of change.


ABSTRACT This paper sheds critical light on the motivations and practices of community gardeners in relatively affluent neighbourhoods. The paper engages with community garden, alternative food and domestic garden literatures, to understand how people fit food production into their everyday lives, how they develop relationships to plants and how these in turn shape relations between people in a community group. The paper draws on participant observation and semi-structured walking interviews conducted at three community gardens in Sydney, Australia. The paper concludes that to fit community gardening into busy lives, people strategically choose plants with biophysical qualities that suit personal as well as communal circumstances and objectives. The paper shows how community is relationally constituted through the practices of growing and sharing food. Tensions might arise through the practices of growing food on communal and private plots and the taking and giving of food, but it can also encourage people to reflect on community food production and on their roles as individuals in a community group.


The experimental study for investigating the seismic responses of the Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame specimens is presented in this paper.  Regarding this experimental, two one-bay and scaled-down specimens have been prepared and tested, i.e., RC bare frame and RC frame with brick masonry infill. The masonry infilled RC frame specimen was the RC frame which was infilled by the extracted brick masonry wall from the survive RC building in Padang city due to September 2007 Sumatra earthquake. These both of specimens, obviously, represent the typical low-rise RC building in West Sumatra, Indonesia. These specimens were tested to the constant vertical load, and lateral static reversed cyclic loading in the structural testing facilities. The lateral loading was applied incrementally and controlled by the drift angle of the specimens.  The drift angle is the ratio between the lateral displacement of the top of the column and the column height of the specimen.  The applied incremental lateral load and displacements at several points on the specimens were measured and recorded during the testing.  The observation of the major cracks and its propagation were also conducted to identify the failure mechanism of the RC frame specimens. Comparison of the testing results for both of the specimens suggests that the masonry brick infill contributed to significantly increase the dissipating energy capacity, lateral strength, and stiffness of overall RC frames. On the other hand, unfortunately, the ductility performance of the brick masonry infilled RC frame specimen was decreasing. The presence of brick masonry infill in the RC frame seems to control the failure mechanism of the RC frame, reduces the deformation capacity of the boundary column, and alters the lateral and axial deformations of boundary columns.


ABSTRACT This article examines the feasibility of designing and implementing a cybercrime prevention monitoring approach to enhance the quality of knowledge about policies that aim to reduce the prevalence and impact of online harms. Despite very significant investments made by governments over the past decade to improve the cybersecurity of publicly and privately-operated computer systems, there is very limited systematic knowledge about what cybercrime prevention policies have been adopted in various parts of the world and even less knowledge about their effectiveness in reducing the exposure of individuals and organizations to cybercrime. Borrowing from the policy monitoring (or policy surveillance) methodology that was developed in a broad range of fields such as public health and education, this article argues that such an approach would be critical in advancing our understanding of what is being done to control cybercrime, what works, what doesn't, and what is promising. This article provides an overview of the principles and benefits of the policy monitoring approach, reviews the main features of a sample of 18 policy monitoring platforms, assesses a dozen cybersecurity policy rating initiatives—concluding that very few of them include cybercrime in their framework, then provides a template for the creation of a dedicated cybercrime prevention monitoring tool that would benefit academics, policy-makers and practitioners.


Background: Cataract remains the main cause of reversible blindness in Nigeria. However, access to cataract surgery has been hampered by lack of funds and a dearth of eye care professionals. Surgical outreaches have been used as one of the tools to reduce the cataract backlog. Aim: To review a free cataract surgical outreach in a tertiary hospital funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria. Subjects and Methods: A three-day free cataract surgical outreach at the directive of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Goodluck Jonathan was organised at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City. The records of all patients who had cataract surgery during the program were retrieved. The demographics, ocular assessment, surgical notes, post-operative and follow-up data were extracted and collated. Data was analysed using Microsoft Excel 2007(Microsoft Corporation Inc, Washington, USA). Results: A total of 209 patients had cataract surgery made of 134/209(64.1%) males and 75/209(35.9%) females. The mean age of the patients was 61.8(14.5) years (range 20 to 89 years). The majority of the patients, 137/209(65.6%) were ≥ 60 years and 145/209(69.4%) of the beneficiaries were low income earners. A total of 130/209(62.2%) patients had never been seen by an eye care specialist. Conclusion: There is a great need to improve access to eye care services in general and cataract surgical services specifically.


Purpose: Finding new treatment options for patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma is challenging due to the rarity and heterogeneity of this cancer type. The absence of druggable targets further complicates the development of new therapies. Current treatment options are therefore limited, and prognosis remains poor. Experimental Design: We performed drug screening on primary mesothelioma cultures to guide treatment decisions of corresponding patients that were progressive after first- or second-line treatment. Results: We observed a high concordance between in vitro results and clinical outcomes. We defined three subgroups responding differently to the anticancer drugs tested. In addition, gene expression profiling yielded distinct signatures that segregated the differently responding subgroups. These genes signatures involved various pathways, most prominently the fibroblast growth factor pathway. Conclusions: Our primary mesothelioma culture system has proved to be suitable to test novel drugs. Chemical profiling of primary mesothelioma cultures allows personalizing treatment for a group of patients with a rare tumor type where clinical trials are notoriously difficult. This personalized treatment strategy is expected to improve the poor prospects of patients with mesothelioma. Clin Cancer Res; 24(7); 1761–70. ©2017 AACR. See related commentary by John and Chia, p. 1513


A fully-illustrated introduction to the archaeology of the Jomon period in Japan, this book explores the complex relationships between Jomon people and their rich natural environment. From the end of the last Ice Age 12,000 years ago to the appearance of rice agriculture around 400 BC, Jomon people subsisted by hunting, fishing and gathering; but abundant and predictable sources of wild food enabled Jomon people to live in large, relatively permanent settlements, and to develop an elaborate material culture.In this book Kobayashi and Kaner explore thematic issues in Jomon archaeology: the appearance of sedentism in the Japanese archipelago and the nature of Jomon settlements; the invention of pottery and the development and meaning of regional pottery styles; social and spiritual life; as well as the astronomical significance of causeway monuments and the conceptualisation of landscape in the Jomon period. These ideas are considered in the light of current work in the European Mesolithic and Neolithic, setting Jomon archaeology within a global context. The book draws extensively on new archaeological information from various parts of Japan, including the sites of Sannai Maruyama, Isedotai, Komankino among others. Extensive colour illustrations provide a vivid demonstration of Jomon ideology and creativity.


We show that using multiple shears in spectral shearing interferometry is a powerful technique for improving precision, thus enabling the measurement of more complex pulses and resolving phase ambiguities. We derive an efficient and robust optimal phase reconstruction algorithm for extracting the spectral phase from interferograms taken at an arbitrary number of different shears. We show that if the shear is easily adjustable then a multishear measurement always offers a superior precision, even when considering the loss of precision of the raw data necessitated by multiple acquisitions. We present numerical examples and demonstrate an experimental implementation of the measurement of a double pulse using two shears.


Abstract: An apparent species‐specific relatedness of SIVagm suggests a coevolution with their natural hosts. However, the exact species or subspecies classification of African green monkeys, AGM, is uncertain because current classification schemes rely on phenotype markers, while more definitive genetic data are lacking. In this study, the CD4 protein involved in tissue type recognition was genetically cloned and sequenced from PBMC RNA from all AGM species, including Barbados green monkeys (BGM). Phylogenetic trees were constructed that also included genomic CD4 nucleotide sequences from patas, sooty mangabeys, rhesus and pig‐tail macaques, chimpanzees, and humans. Chimpanzees and humans consistently clustered together. Monkeys within the Cercopithecus genus formed a separate cluster which included pata monkeys, supporting its grouping as a member of Cercopithecus. Surprisingly, sooty mangabeys were genetically more closely related to Asian macaques than to other African species, which might explain why macaques are more susceptible to infection by the SIVsm group than to infection by SIVagm or HIV‐1 and why patas, on the other hand, are highly susceptible to SIVagm infection. Based on CD4 genetic data, tantalus, vervets, grivets, and sabaeus formed separate subgroups with BGM grouping closely with vervets. The branching order of the AGM species was related to that of their respective SIVagm env sequences. The study suggests a strong correlation between CD4 phylogeny and the susceptibility of the host species to infection by a specific lentivirus and supports the assumption of a coevolution of SIVagm and AGM. CD4 sequencing is suggested as a relevant method for genetic determination of primate species.


'Skybooks: Skywide Projection and Media Mythology' traces the history of the media fantasy of projecting images and texts onto the sky up to the 1920s, and with respect to the variety of mass media forms that emerged in that decade. Thus, in 1918, less than a year after the October Revolution, Russian Futurist poet Velimir Khlebnikov wrote a piece of Utopian prose in which Walter Benjamin, had he known it, might have recognised another instance of social dreaming projected upon modern technology. The word 'skybooks' (neboknigi) used in the title of the essay is borrowed from there. Khlebnikov's global village of the future is populated by the race of inventors and creators in habit of using the sky as a giant pad to share with each other latest news, scientific formulae and lines of poetry. It was hardly by chance, Galili and Tsivian argue, that the tip of Vladimir Tatlin's famous Tower (also conceived in 1918) was to be equipped with a giant projector. Skypads need a skypen whose skyink is a projected beam of light.


Community detection is a fundamental problem in network science with various applications. The problem has attracted much attention and many approaches have been proposed. Among the existing approaches are the latest methods based on Graph Convolutional Networks (GCN) and on statistical modeling of Markov Random Fields (MRF). Here, we propose to integrate the techniques of GCN and MRF to solve the problem of semi-supervised community detection in attributed networks with semantic information. Our new method takes advantage of salient features of GNN and MRF and exploits both network topology and node semantic information in a complete end-to-end deep network architecture. Our extensive experiments demonstrate the superior performance of the new method over state-of-the-art methods and its scalability on several large benchmark problems.


Geographical Information Systems (GIS) originated as a quantitative technology with a social science paradigm. Its early uses in humanities disciplines followed this approach such that much of the best developed research in 'Historical GIS' is associated with quantitative statistical analysis. Technological advances mean that it has become increasingly easy to use GIS with qualitative sources such as texts and images. This in turn has led to an increasing uptake in geo-technologies across the humanities and the development of 'Spatial Humanities'. This paper explores how the different types of data can be used to deliver new research outcomes and examines how GIS allows different academic paradigms to be used in a synergistic way to bring together traditionally separate disciplines and approaches.


Coherence in conversations and in texts can be partially characterized by a set of coherence relations, motivated ultimately by the speaker's or writer's need to be understood. In this paper, formal definitions are given for several coherence relations, based on the operations of an inference system; that is, the relations between successive portions of a discourse are characterized in terms of the inferences that can be drawn from each. In analyzing a discourse, it is frequently the case that we would recognize it as coherent, in that it would satisfy the formal definition of some coherence relation, if only we could assume certain noun phrases to be coreferential. In such cases, we will simply assume the identity of the entities referred to, in what might be called a "petty conversational implicature," thereby solving the coherence and coreference problems simultaneously. Three examples of different kinds of reference problems are presented. In each, it is shown how the coherence of the discourse can be recognized, and how the reference problems are solved, almost as a by-product, by means of these petty conversational implicatures.


This thesis is concerned with the synthesis and evaluation of regenerable chalcogen containing antioxidants. Variously substituted 2,3-dihydrobenzo[b]selenophene-5-ol antioxidants were evaluated in order to gain information about structure/reactivity-relationships. Within the series explored, the most regenerable unsubstituted compound inhibited lipid peroxidation for more than 320 minutes when assayed in a two-phase lipid peroxidation model in the presence of N-acetylcysteine (NAC). α-Tocopherol which could inhibit lipid peroxidation for 90 minutes under similar conditions was therefore easily outperformed. The antioxidant activity of the parent was also documented in an aqueous environment. The best catalyst quenched/inhibited ROS production by neutrophils and PMA-stimulated macrophages more efficiently than Trolox. In addition, over a period of seven days, no disruption in proliferation for the cell lines used was observed when exposed to our synthetic compound or Trolox at a concentration of 60 µM. 3-Pyridinols substituted with alkyltelluro groups in the ortho-position were more regenerable in the two-phase model than their corresponding para-substituted analogues in the presence of NAC and also inhibited autoxidation of styrene in a catalytic fashion in homogenous phase in the presence of N-tert-butoxycarbonyl cysteine methyl ester (LipCys), a lipid-soluble analogue of NAC. The best inhibitors quenched peroxyl radicals more efficiently than α-tocopherol. They could also catalyze reduction of organic hydroperoxides in the presence of thiols and therefore mimic the action of the glutathione peroxidase enzymes. Mechanisms for the catalysis are proposed. Octylthio, octylseleno and octyltelluro analogues of butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) were synthesized and evaluated. Among these, the tellurium compound was superior to α-tocopherol in the presence of NAC both when it comes to quenching capacity and regenerability. Organochalcogen substituent effects in phenolic compounds were studied by using EPR, IR and computational methods.


Neogene and Quaternary sequences close to the western margin of the Axios basin, northern Greece, have been studied to investigate the nature and extent of their neotectonic deformation. Synsedimentary deformation is indicated by conjugate growth faults and shear zones, and by multiple angular unconformities. Where possible, palaeo-stress analysis has been carried out and the majority of the synsedimentary faults are shown to be dynamically controlled and to have developed in response to horizontal NNE-SSW extension. This result, which is consistent with recent earthquake focal mechanism studies in the region, suggests a similarity in the neotectonic evolution of the northern and southern Aegean areas during late Cenozoic times.


The opinions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the position of Summary Aim of this paper is to explore the main drivers of outsourcing of knowledge intensive business services by Italian manufacturing firms. While anecdotal and empirical evidence has emphasized labour cost and scale economies as behind firms' choices to outsource production or service activities, here we focus on spatial agglomeration and technology as important factors. Using microeconomic data on a repeated cross-section of Italian manufacturing firms for the period 1998-2003, we develop a two-stage model in order to avoid selection bias: first, we estimate the determinants of the firm's decision to outsource business-related services; second, we estimate the main factors underlying the intensity and complexity of KIBS outsourcing, expressed by the number of service activities that are externalized. Our results show that labour cost-savings are not relevant in driving the decision to outsource KIBS, but ICT, R&D and location within a dense and technologically developed industrial district have very positive effects.


A 1341 bp sequence of the 16S rDNA of an undescribed species of Pasteuria that parasitizes the soybean cyst nematode, Heterodera glycines, was determined and then compared with a homologous sequence of Pasteuria ramosa, a parasite of cladoceran water fleas of the family Daphnidae. The two Pasteuria sequences, which diverged from each other by a dissimilarity index of 7%, also were compared with the 16S rDNA sequences of 30 other bacterial species to determine the phylogenetic position of the genus Pasteuria among the Gram-positive eubacteria. Phylogenetic analyses using maximum-likelihood, maximum-parsimony and neighbour-joining methods showed that the Heterodera glycines-infecting Pasteuria and its sister species, P. ramosa, form a distinct line of descent within the Alicyclobacillus group of the Bacillaceae. These results are consistent with the view that the genus Pasteuria is a deeply rooted member of the Clostridium-Bacillus-Streptococcus branch of the Gram-positive eubacteria, neither related to the actinomycetes nor closely related to true endospore-forming bacteria.


Building computers that can be used to design embedded real-time systems is the subject of this title. Real-time embedded software requires increasingly higher performances. The authors therefore consider processors that implement advanced mechanisms such as pipelining, out-of-order execution, branch prediction, cache memories, multi-threading, multicorearchitectures, etc. The authors of this book investigate the timepredictability of such schemes.


Participatory Action Research employs social sciences research methods to develop actionable local knowledge. In seeking meaningful and inclusive ways of generating knowledge together in the workplace, Participatory Action Research practitioner–researchers combine action and reflection with theory and practice to improve local situations and enhance professional practices. Working with and for others, co-researchers evolve learning cycles that are practical and emergent, participatory and collaborative, emancipatory and democratic, and interpretive and local. In this case, the cyclical 'methods in action' orientation of Participatory Action Research is illustrated through examples from a North American academic library facility renovation initiative. Practical advice is offered on proposal planning and study implementation in organizational settings. In addition, learning outcomes and discussion questions enable reflective project planning and iterative evaluation.


With the increasing world-wide demand for viral-based vaccines (VBVs) which includes attenuated and inactivated viral vaccines, as well as viral vector vaccines to protect against the coronavirus known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), faster development times are required to progress VBVs more rapidly into clinical development and then to market. This has meant VBV manufacturing is changing and is being driven by the need for increased speed and greater flexibility. The requirement for greater flexibility has led to new types of manufacturing facilities which can accommodate a growing range of different types of VBVs and can be reconfigured easily to take high clinical trial attrition rates into account. To meet these challenges, vaccine manufacturers, for example those developing SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in cell culture are adopting strategies including process intensification as they believe this will help achieve higher product titers while reducing manufacturing footprint thus making larger numbers of doses of VBVs more readily available. To deliver on this, there is a need for products that can facilitate process intensification and operate under these conditions when manufacturing VBVs. To facilitate process intensification of VBVs including SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidates, an integrated portfolio of technologies developed by Sartorius is detailed in this article.


In this study, cloud parameters as simulated by the latest version of the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology general circulation model are documented and compared with observations. The model simulations generally agree with the observed spatial distribution and temporal variation of the total cloud amount. There are, however, biases in the details. Underestimation in the total cloud amount found over the midlatitude oceans in summer leads to significant biases in the simulated radiation budget. Considerable uncertainties of the observed total cloud amount in the polar region call for improved measurement techniques for further model validation. With a similar mean state of total cloud amount in the tropics between model and observation, fewer daily and interannual variabilities are found in the model. Despite large uncertainties in the current cloud liquid water path retrievals, the main pattern and magnitude of the space-time distribution of cloud liquid water path is reseasonably well reproduced by the model. Lack of contrast between simulated cloud liquid water path in the subtropics and midlatitudes and failure to capture the observed summer local maxima of cloud liquid water path in the subtropical eastern ocean basins are the major discrepancies found in the model in comparison with the observations. The systematic differences in the magnitude of cloud liquid water path retrievals as shown in the comparison reveal a need for careful calibration of satellite retrieval algorithms. With a simple approach to prescribing land-sea contrast in cloud droplet number concentrations the simulated distribution of effective radii of cloud water droplets in the tropics is in good agreement with observations. However, some physical processes (e.g., precipitation efficiency and air mass advection) in regulating cloud droplet number concentrations cannot be resolved by the simple prescription. The model simulation of cloud effective drop radii over the midlatitude oceans reveals errors larger than those in other regions of the globe.


SUMMARY Monensin, an ionophore, and Aspergillus oryzae fermentation extract (AO), a fungal feed additive, are growth promoters which modify rumen fermentation. The effects of combining these additives were determined in the rumen simulation technique (Rusitec). Sixteen vessels received 20 g/day of a diet of hay, barley, molasses, fishmeal and a mineral/vitamin mixture (500, 299·5, 100, 91 and 9·5 g/kg DM respectively). AO, monensin (M) and AO + monensin (AO/M) were each added to four vessels at 500, 10 and (500 + 10) mg/day respectively. Both M and AO/M increased propionate (14·5 and 138 v. 91 mmol/day in controls; P < 0·001) and reduced butyrate production (6·6, 5·2 and 9·1 mmol/day respectively; P < 0·01), whereas AO had no effect. AO increased bacterial numbers by 70% (P < 0·055), while M had no effect, and in the presence of M, AO also had no effect. Proteolytic activity in samples from the vessels decreased (P < 0·05) in all treatments (1·06, 0·71, 0·60 and 0·47 mg 14C-casein/mg protein/h for control, AO, M and AO/M respectively). In contrast, deamination of amino acids increased (P < 0·001) with AO and AO/M but decreased slightly with M alone (482, 646, 434 and 644 nmol NH3/mg protein/h). Ammonia output was unchanged (47·4, 57·2, 42·7 and 44·8 mg/day). Thus each additive was dominant over the other for different activities, with monensin generally suppressing the effects of AO rather than vice-versa.


Women's empowerment is recognized as an imperative for achieving women's rights, health and development. The achievement of women's empowerment as an end goal or even initiation of the process necessitates usage of approaches that promote participation and incite action. The Community Health Sciences Department (CHS) of Aga Khan University Karachi that is part of a five-component study (including four Asian countries) titled 'Women's Empowerment in Muslim Contexts' (WEMC), used the participatory action research approach for women's empowerment. Work with communities entailed reflection, analysis and action not only to create knowledge but for education, development of consciousness and mobilization for action. We adapted the participatory rural appraisal (PRA) tools to explore women's perceptions and reflections on their existent situation and aspired needs with respect to empowerment, community's overall health, mental health, reproductive health, daily work load, access to resources, participation in decision-making and violence against women. Our experience emerged as a five-step model of participatory action research for women's empowerment that included steps of field inquiry, analysis for action, advocacy training, policy dialogue and tracking action for change. Reflections on this model can serve as a learning instrument for those engaged with community based work and social transformation.


The intersection of group dynamics and socioeconomic status theories is applied as a framework for the puzzling relationship of immigration and support for the welfare state in Western Europe. Group dynamics theories suggest that how individuals define their group boundaries moderates the impact of immigration on support for the welfare state. Immigrant presence should have the strongest effects for those with exclusive national group boundaries; weaker for those with conditionally inclusive boundaries based on reciprocity; and weakest or non-existent for those with inclusive group boundaries. Group boundaries should interact with material self-interest, leading individuals with less material security who are more likely to face social risks to be more supportive of the welfare state. Using data from the 4th European Social Survey linked to regional and national data, we find that group boundary salience plays a large moderating role in the relationship between immigration and native support for the welfare state, and that this role is intricately linked to material self-interest. Group dynamics should therefore be viewed in conjunction with existing structural welfare state theories as opposed to an alternative or isolated mechanism.


Though experiential learning is a popular topic in higher education, a great deal of research in the field neglects to make ties between program outcomes and educational theory, creating a gap in knowledge regarding how participant students truly experience educational programs. Consequently, this study proposes an updated perspective of experiential education that considers the experiential and social aspects of these learning environments. While it is important to determine programmatic impacts, it is equally important to assess how learning has occurred, so programs can be modified accordingly. The Equine Studies Program at the Middleburg Agricultural Research and Extension Center began in 2010, with seven cohorts having completed the program since its inception. At this time, however, no study has been conducted to gain a thorough understanding of the program's purpose, nor assess if programmatic impacts align with its objectives. This study utilized qualitative interview methods to determine the program's objectives and impacts on participants. The findings provide insight on how experiential learning programs can be enhanced to better prepare students for the challenges of modern industry. Recommendations are made for continued research in this area to determine how the implementation of experiential learning programs may impact overall undergraduate curricula. Additional research should also be conducted to compare the impacts of varying types of experiential programs.


The effects of antagonists of GHRH and the somatostatin analog RC-160 on the growth of OV-1063 human epithelial ovarian cancer cells xenografted into nude mice were investigated. Treatment with 20 microg/day of the GHRH antagonist JV-1-36 or MZ-5-156 and 60 microg/day of the somatostatin analog RC-160 for 25 days decreased tumor volume by 70.9% (P < 0.01), 58.3% (P < 0.05), and 60.6% (P < 0.01), respectively, vs. the control value. The levels of GH in serum were decreased in all of the treated groups, but only RC-160 significantly reduced serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). The levels of messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) for IGF-I and -II and for their receptors in OV-1063 tumors were investigated by multiplex RT-PCR. No expression of mRNA for IGF-I was detected, but treatment with JV-1-136 caused a 51.8% decrease (P < 0.05) in the level of mRNA for IGF-II in tumors. Exposure of OV-1063 cells cultured in vitro to GHRH, IGF-I, or IGF-II significantly (P < 0.05) stimulated cell growth, but 10(-5) mol/L JV-1-36 nearly completely inhibited (P < 0.001) OV-1063 cell proliferation. OV-1063 tumors expressed mRNA for GHRH receptors and showed the presence of binding sites for GHRH. Our results indicate that antagonistic analogs of GHRH and the somatostatin analog RC-160 inhibit the growth of epithelial ovarian cancers. The effects of RC-160 seem to be exerted more on the pituitary GH-hepatic IGF-I axis, whereas GHRH antagonists appear to reduce IGF-II production and interfere with the autocrine regulatory pathway. The antitumorigenic action of GHRH antagonists appears to be mediated by GHRH receptors found in OV-1063 tumors.


The aim of this study was to determine if a reservoir of sub-clinical LGV infection exists in men who have sex with men (MSM), as this finding might account for the recent rise in lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV) Chlamydia trachomatis infections among MSM in Canada. MSM without proctitis were enrolled between January and August 2006 in a cross-sectional study. Rectal, urine, serology and pharyngeal specimens were tested for specific C. trachomatis serovars. The median age of the 253 participants was 43 years; 53% were HIV+. We found no active cases of LGV infection; but 20 (8%) participants had positive serology. Thirteen participants (5%) had non-LGV C. trachomatis infections. Unprotected anopenetrative intercourse, rectal enema and drug use were associated with non-LGV C. trachomatis infection. Sub-clinical rectal non-LGV C. trachomatis infection was relatively common but LGV was not identified in our sample. Further studies of screening for non-LGV chlamydia infection in MSM are needed.


The application of innovative methods to diminish the amount of human creation called "waste" should be applied not only under commercial terms, but also under the humanitarian concept. Negative results of focusing only on the fastest relief of human suffer without attending the consequences of the flow of items left on the disaster zones, could bring in the medium term, critical environmental consequences, due to the creation of new waste. This research analyzes relevant approaches of the Humanitarian Relief of Aid under a Humanitarian Logistics point of view. It aims to find if those approaches have already a Reverse Logistic phase of the items provided by donors. The results demonstrate the absence of a Reverse Logistics Phase for items brought to disaster zones. Thus, some proposals were suggested for a new Reverse Logistic Phase in any humanitarian relief of aid. NGOs, donors participation, coordination among players on the scene, managing inventories, last mile distribution, performance measurement, relief of aid models, and reverse logistics concepts applied to the humanitarian field would be only some of the themes revised on this research. These aim to enrich the readers' knowledge on the topic as well as to provide an open panorama of the humanitarian actions employed in each Natural Disaster. The reader would acquire sufficient understanding to determine how feasible and reachable are the alternatives proposed by the authors. The relevance of this theme reveals a critical and not yet researched niche in Reverse Logistics under Humanitarian Logistics. It encourages more readers to research on it, explore and apply in future natural disasters. This research used a qualitative approach employing a semi-structured interview made to small and large humanitarian organizations.


"Saturation" is the term suggested by the authors to describe the present state of the visual environment of Berlin, the city that acquired a reputation as the European capital of street art. Saturation is a consequence of the gradual infiltration of graffiti and street art into everyday life and the visual environment of Berlin, and their acceptance by city residents. Berliners' fondness for street imagery is enhanced by the experience and memory of the independent reappropriation and rearrangement of urban space the city underwent after unification. The memory of the Berlin Wall plays a significant role in sustaining Berlin graffiti and street art cultures. It makes evident the history of the images and their creators and their role in urban communication. Simultaneously it normalizes the ephemerality of street imagery. Visual saturation in Berlin is complemented by the activities of "mediators," who draw various audiences' attention to graffiti and street art and encourage the interaction of all interested parties. In English, extended summary in Russian.


INTRODUCTION
Common clinical experience suggests that tooth whitening agents are 100% effective. This study uses meta-analysis of data from published randomized controlled clinical trials to determine the efficacy of tooth whitening agents.

METHODS
A MEDLINE search strategy was developed and implemented to systematically identify clinical trials on dentist-prescribed, home-applied tooth whitening agents, using 10% carbamide peroxide, published between 1989-1999. Inclusion criteria (e.g., in English, human clinical trials) and exclusion criteria (e.g., not placebo controlled) were established and clinical trials that met these criteria were critically appraised for validity and clinical applicability. Meta-analysis was then used to quantitatively integrate the findings.

RESULTS
Seven studies were identified that met the inclusion and validity criteria. These studies indicated that: Whitening results in a significant mean change of 6 4 shade guide units (p < 0.01), while the placebo control group exhibited little change (0.7 0.6, p > 0.05). 93% of the bleached patients exhibited 2 shade guide unit change, while 20% of the placebo control group exhibited this change. The brand of bleaching agent had a significant effect on tooth whitening, but the daily application time and duration of treatment did not. Whitening is maintained for 6 months for 1/2 of the people treated. Neither gingival indices nor plaque indices were adversely or favorably affected by bleaching. CLINICAL APPLICABILITY: The data from the reviewed studies indicate that rather than being 100% effective, on average: 73% (93% for bleached group minus 20% placebo group) of people who whiten their teeth will exhibit a whitening that is 2 shade guide units greater than the placebo. 20% of the people who use dentist-prescribed, home-applied bleaching will achieve a mean whitening effect of 5 shade guide units. Re-treatment for 50% of people may be necessary to maintain this effect longer than 6 months. The methods used here are Internet applicable for other clinical topics.


This study explores how evaluations are used within the UNEP and, to a limited extent, how they influence donor funding decisions. It also provides indications for future direction of the evaluation function of the organization. The study is based on a survey of UNEP Governing Council representatives, UNEP's donor agencies and UNEP project and programme managers. The survey examines preferences for different types of evaluation approaches and methods as well as products, and their perceived credibility, reliability and utility in relation to the resources required to produce them.