Since the mid 1990s, the media have directed our attention to the thousands of Southern Sahara Africans who take life threatening risks crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic ocean. Their numbers on migratory routes leading to Europe are increasing, joining up, especially in the "Libyan crossroad" with North Africans, Egyptians and even Asian migrants on the same quest. This image reflects reality, but only partially so, for it leads one to believe that these migrants cross the Sahara in the hope of reaching Europe. It should be pointed out that one of the main misunderstandings when evoking these migrations flows is to reduce them to the act of crossing the straits of the Mediterranean Sea. Since the 1990s, the Libyan case exemplifies the way the multilateral (EU-Maghreb) or bilateral (Libya-Italy) political negotiations between the two shores of the Mediterranean sea rapidly focus on the figure of the "illegal sub-Saharan migrant in transit". This simplistic view is dangerous because it erases the historical dimension of the movement of people and its consequences. The Sahara is not merely a desert to be crossed; it is an area that has been shaped for more than half a century by the various migrant, trader or pastoral communities who have contributed to its massive urbanisation and economic development. At the same time, the reorganization of African migration is affected by the inflation of tensions, border and police controls, the diversification of routes between Niger, Chad Sudan and Libya consequently contributes to the perpetuation of transit spaces. There are tens of thousands of these migrants who settle down more or less durably in these new transit areas dependants on opportunity, status controls, and expulsions. But these transit areas have also become places where migrants seek employment, create new economic activities, or develop new skills while working, studying or practicing other tongues. As migration patterns across the Sahara are reconfigured, the impact is more visible in some places. But their durability should not be taken for granted. Villages specialised in the transit economy may easily decline as new diplomatic relations are formed between countries of immigration and third countries.


As Science advances with the development of greater improvements in each discipline, we are able to begin to unravel more of the mechanisms involved in DNA transcription with a multi-disciplinary approach. The Biochemistry influences the structural changes leading to changes in the physics and energy of the cell during transcription. Non Histone Proteins (NHP) from the cytoplasm are directed into the nucleus to phosphorylate, acetylate and methylate specific sections on corresponding Histones for a tertiary structural change. The DNA, which is wound around the Histones in a bifilar type winding, can then be modified in its structure to supercoiling, thereby allowing the formation of special toroidal structures of DNA strands. These supercoiling structures have been shown to increase energy concentration. One of the most important coils seen in DNA transcription is the torus, or Moebius coil. It is formed by the structural changes in the DNA from the Histone enzymatic modifications by the NHPs and by the polyamine, spermidine. This structural change is seen more dramatically as the coil is pulled apart in the DNA strands. The DNA becomes more organized into these coils and the electro-magnetic properties of the DNA in this new Moebius coil, or torus, produces vortices which are thought to be responsible for the incorporation of specific enhanced magnetic fields or, thought by some, to be involved longitudinal wave conduction. These fields are observed to transmit energy and possibly information, which may play an even larger role in the transcription process. The Quantum fields mentioned in earlier studies in biological systems may very well be employed by the structural change in the DNA to allow these fields to transfer energy and information for the transcription process. Transcription requires this specificity of energy to transcribe but it is not yet known if the energies work with ATP or actually increase ATP needed for transcription.


The occult dysraphism, due to a lack of fusion in the midline of mesenchymal and/or neural structures, is a frequent problem usually devoid of pathological significance but in rare cases associated with severe neurological manifestations sometimes incompatible with life. In 50% of cases of occult dysraphism there is a skin marker that facilitates its early recognition. The coexistence of cutaneous and neurological signs is due to the common ectodermal origin of the two tissues. Over the past eight years we observed 19 cases (9 M) of dysraphism. In 12 cases (8 M) of cranial dysraphism the most common skin marker is a collar or a tuft of thicker and darker hair, which often hides a plaque of ectopic meningeal tissue or a dermal sinus. In 7 cases (2 M) of spinal dysraphism the most significant skin marker is lipoma, but many skin signs seemingly trivial when are located in the midline, can be a clue to the diagnosis of a spinal dysraphism, especially if two or more than two. These include a flat vascular lesion that has features overlapping the very frequent infantile salmon patch.


Analyses of allozyme and mitochondrial nucleotide sequence variation in Philoria from northeastern NSW and southeastern Queensland revealed that there are more species than the three that are currently recognized. In addition to the three species presently recognized P. kundagungan, P. loveridgei, and P. sphagnicolus, another two species P. pughi n.sp. and P. richmondensis n.sp. were recognized under the evolutionary species concept. All species are allopatric. Each of the five species had two or more fixed genetic differences with all other species. Additionally, each species possessed two or more unique allozyme characters (apomorphies). Each species had strongly supported reciprocally monophyletic mitochondrial haplotypes in comparison with each of the other species. Multivariate morphometric analysis was able to distinguish P. sphagnicolus from the remaining four northern taxa but was unsuccessful in reliably distinguishing the two new species. Mating call analysis identified two distinct call groups: P. sphagnicolus and the remaining species, the latter showing little discrimination between species. The distribution of Philoria in NSW and Queensland shows a strong association with high rainfall rainforest at mid to high altitudes (above 600 m elevation). The habitat of all species is remarkably similar, all are found predominantly in the headwaters of rainforest streams or soaks on the forest floor. All species lay their eggs in nests in the ground, where the larvae remain throughout their entire development until they emerge post metamorphosis. It was confirmed that nests where the embryos were at an early stage of development were of two types: foaming egg masses, and nests containing a non-foaming jelly substance. All species are limited in their distribution. In particular P. richmondensis is in need of special conservation consideration, as it is known from only three localities within a very small range. A number of populations in southeastern Queensland and northern NSW await molecular analysis to be identified with certainty.


The optothermal window (OW) in conjunction with a low-power infrared source was used at 4 μm wavelength to measure the concentration of D2O needed to determine the total body water (TBW) in human subjects. The 30 ppmv D2O detection limit is comparable to that obtainable by infrared transmission (IRT) spectroscopy but can be further enhanced. Low cost and ease of sampling and operation are other advantages of the novel method.


Post-Legislative Scrutiny (PLS) is an emerging oversight technique which is applied by parliaments to scrutinise implementation and impact of specific laws or legal frameworks. This article takes stock of PLS practices in countries in South and Southeast Asia and argues that PLS can also be used to scrutinise complex processes at the national or supra-national level, such as the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). First, a wide introduction and the state of play in PLS is provided, with reference to different parliamentary and development approaches emerging from the application of PLS in parliaments worldwide, followed by two specific case studies: the law on microfinance in Myanmar and the law on social practice reform in Nepal. The examination of these case studies offers insights about the application of scrutiny techniques in different parliaments. The outcome of the analysis is used to respond to the main research question of this contribution: whether PLS techniques can be applied for the oversight of extended processes, as is the case with the implementation of SDGs. For this, details of the first world study on parliamentary oversight of SDGs are presented, with a regional focus on South and Southeast Asia. The results seem to support the authors' claim that PLS as a technique can facilitate oversight both of specific legal provisions and complex multi-stakeholder processes, such as the monitoring of SDGs.


A Research Project Paper Submitted to the School of Graduate
Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the
Degree of Executive Masters of Business Administration (EMBA)


Sir John Bertrand Gurdon further developed nuclear transplantation [4], the technique used to clone organisms and to create stem cells [5], while working in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century. Gurdon's research built on the work of Thomas King and Robert Briggs in the United States, who in 1952 published findings that indicated that scientists could take a nucleus [6] from an early embryonic cell and successfully transfer it into an unfertilized and enucleated egg [7] cell. Briggs and King also concluded that a nucleus [6] taken from an adult cell and similarly inserted into an unfertilized enucleated egg [7] cell could not produce normal development. In 1962, however, Gurdon published results that indicated otherwise. While Briggs and King worked with Rana pipiens [8] frogs, Gurdon used the faster-growing species Xenopus laevis [9] to show that nuclei from specialized cells still held the potential to be any cell despite its specialization. In 2012, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka [10] its prize in physiology or medicine for for their work on cloning [11] and pluripotent stem cells [5].


Nowadays talking about industrial agro-food production also means referring to different environmental, economic and social repercussions. Although attention given to the way in which the food is produced has grown, the social costs linked to food production have been investigated with a more superficial approach. In many cases the most common mistake is to separate the quality of production processes of our food from our health, forgetting that social costs also translate into health costs if they become burdensome and prolonged over time for the majority of people. An insufficient and fragmented level of information about the strong link between food's undeclared contaminants and chronic diseases reduces the consumer's capability of choice in the purchase of food, further diminished by food primary selection executed by the large-scale retail trade.
While smoking is a choice, today getting sick through unreported contaminants contained in our food is not. Smoking is a bad habit, food is a necessity and as such it should not "poison" humans. In fact, diabetes and obesity are not the only disorders related to the quality of food production processes, where production processes refer to all the activities carried out along the entire production cycle, from seed to sale. In this complex scenario, the systemic approach acts as a tool for reading and analysing linear agri-food supply chains, characterized by chemical inputs such as antibiotics, hormones and pesticides (Bistagnino, 2011). However today the range of such contaminants is widening, especially if we consider all the chemical additives used during the extensive phases of food processing and all those substances released from polymeric packaging in the industrial or domestic conservation phase. In the human body they act as endocrine disruptors, interacting with other contaminants assimilated during the years (Maga, 1995).
This systemic phenomenon is deeply connected to two concepts, Chemical Body Burden, that represents the accumulation and interaction of chemical contaminants in the body and Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI), that is the quantity of pollutant legitimated to be swallowed daily without any apparent risk to health (Robin, 2012). The effects and the mutual interaction of these substances not chosen by the consumer are responsible for what the World Health Organization defines as an "epidemic" capable of perturbing the health of future generations. The list of diseases related to industrial food production is destined to longthen especially considering the current system of reproductive dysfunctions, neurodegenerative diseases and cases of teratogenesis in the fetus. In fact, most future pathologies will be of fetal origin: the transgenerational effects will gradually increase. For this reason, it is necessary to translate the concept of sustainable development and the same sense of environmental responsibility also in the field of public health. It is indispensable to start from the prevention of current generations to defend the health of future generations.
On the basis of this assumption, systemic design can lead to a behavioral change in people and in the actors involved in the health and agri-food field. In order to allow the future population to enjoy an optimal state of health a paradigm shift needs to take place within the management of public health, involving a focused and widespread prevention system, starting from the control of the pollutants included in the agri-food production system.

Since the '30s industry has controlled and influenced research on the toxicity of products, counterfeting the veracity of scientific results (Robin, 2012): this fast growing phenomenon has allowed higher thresholds of ADI and the legitimization of new hazardous substances. This is the reason why a multidisciplinary figure like that of the designer is essential to lead an improvement that starts from the bottom and works simultaneously on two different fronts through a shared change. This means firsly collaborating with professional figures closely linked to the epidemiological and nutritional fields and with public and private health facilities; and secondly by interacting with the patients and less aware individuals, so that a system of prevention and precaution can be put in place, extending also to those who are not affected by any diseases but who seek a balanced state of health.
The systemic designer has a responsibility in this sense, not only as a activator of relationships, but above all as a processor of a sustainable action strategy that necessarily includes a reversal of the approach to chronic diseases and the consumption/production of food.

On one hand, the doctor should keep his mentorship rebuilding it with greater awareness about the link between diseases and food production, investigating the food chemical exposure suffered by the patient, evaluating his eating habits and pursuing a systemic analysis of his disorders, interpreting the human organism as a set of strictly related organs (Capra,1997). On the other hand, it is also necessary a direct involvement of those who have not yet revealed any disturbance, so that a possibility of protection can be realized through the dissemination of information.

However, it is important that this system also involves food producers, so that they can move towards a production free from chemical contaminants, which follows the season and favors the local varieties. It is also essential to adopt recognized certifications and labels to reassure, inform and guide the user towards conscious consumption.
In this double context the systemic designer draws a dense network of relationships among different actors, within which the patient and the healthy individual to be protected represent the center, active part of the system, directly involved in the treatment and prevention process, where prevention means knowledge, conscious purchase, even self-production.
It is legitimate to ask why the designer represents the fulcrum of this network of relationships. The first answer is represented by the fact that he is simultaneously planner and user of food/health systems, consumer and health seeker (Jones, 2013). The real motivation lies instead in his transdisciplinary education, which supports him in comparison with other branches of knowledge.

Working in the perspective of sustainability and territoriality, it responds to global challenges with ethics and great intellectual honesty, always taking into consideration the peculiarities of the places and the communities in which it operates, which become an integral part of a sustainable, functional, efficient project. Nevertheless, there is another aspect that is not negligible: the systemic designer stands above all conflicts of interest, moving away from the will of the big agro-industrial and pharmaceutical corporations, planning for a sustainable well-being shared by all the collectivity involved, that does not allow tampering and disinformation. Therefore he plans a path that can become a guide towards a behavioral change, through educational projects that stimulate daily qualitative actions and choices (Wendel, 2014). Products, services and territorial strategies change their focus, moving from the profit to the health of individuals and the environment in which they live. However, in order for the connections designed between users, producers, food and health institutions to be constructive and lasting, the designer undertakes to create a dialogue between disciplines, languages and distant professions, minimizing conceptual and communicative obstacles, reconciling different cultural backgrounds. Thus its mediator role becomes fundamental for the achievement of sustainable compromises between different visions, through the objectification of critical points and possibilities. He, therefore, stands as a designer and observer of the system, avoiding imbalances in terms of costs and benefits.

Today there are many case studies developed to bring people closer to the theme of well-being achieved through food, however, most of them rarely collaborates with a team of specialized figures. The largest number of cases helps the users find local and seasonal products and meet direct producers. Some platforms aim to guide users towards a more conscious purchase through complete descriptions in terms of nutritional values, composition, etc. Almost all use tools such as apps and sites to facilitate online purchase, but the downside is the absence of a reliable source of this information and that of specialized support fugures.

Moreover, there are some very interesting isolated cases, which although they do not consider the involvement of the designer profession, they assist the interaction among patients, medical figures, food-producers and chefs for the prevention of the diseases. (an example is Diana 5 Project, conducted by the Dr. Franco Berrino and the "National Cancer Institute, based in Milan). Through this type of projects the level of awareness achieved is higher, thanks to the direct involvement of the patient in the production process of the daily meal. In addition, they represent an excellent example of design application, because it takes strength from relationships, experience and direct comparison. The aims of this research are intended to be part of the Health System for Sustainable Living sector and are not far from the approach pursued by the Medical Design frontier, but with an additional variable: the consideration of the constant chemical exposures to which man is subjected.

Nowadays a real revolution of public health is urgently necessary and this can happen only by starting from education, training and interaction, so that knowledge can become an instrument of power, while food an instrument of prevention rather than a cause of a global system of growing diseases.


Introduction To investigate molecular-genetic causes and effects of diseases and their therapies it becomes increasingly important to combine data from clinical trials with high volumes of experimental data generated using various chip technologies and their annotations. We present our approach to integrate such data for two large collaborative cancer research studies in Germany – the Molecular Mechanism of Malignant Lymphoma (MMML) and the German Glioma Network. Our platform interconnects a commercial study management system (eRN) with a data warehouse-based gene expression analysis system (GeWare) [1]. We utilize a generic approach to import different anonymized pathological and patient-related annotations into the warehouse. The platform also integrates different forms of experimental data and public molecular-genetic annotation data and thus supports a wide range of collaborative analyses for both clinical and non-clinical parameters. Methods We have developed a comprehensive data integration and analysis platform at the University of Leipzig interconnecting two existing data management systems. On the one hand the study management system eRN allows users at participating institutions to remotely enter all data typically handled in traditional clinical trials e.g. patient-related personal, clinical, and pathological data. To support high data quality the system implements different rule-based input and consistency checks which indicate input imbalances or missing data to be corrected by users. On the other hand the GeWare system deals with chip-based gene expression and array-CGH data and comprises different reports and analysis methods. Chip data is much more voluminous than the patient-related data and cannot be stored within eRN. GeWare provides web interfaces to upload new experimental data and to specify further annotations like laboratory parameters. To combine patient-related data with chip-based data for combined analysis, GeWare also imports a subset of patient-related data from eRN in a generic manner using so called annotation templates. While the patient-related data is identified by the patient identifier, the chip-based data utilizes a chip identifier from which the patient identifier can not be derived. We thus provide a mapping table associating each chip identifier with the corresponding patient identifier to correctly combine clinical, pathological and experimental data and to permit an over-spanning data analysis. In addition, GeWare integrates publicly available gene/clone annotation data for extended analysis possibilities. This data integration is performed by a query mediator approach [2]. Results We established a warehouse-based platform combining clinical experimental chip data for large-scale collaborative cancer research studies and based on two dedicated subsystems for managing clinical trials and gene expression analysis. Selected clinical annotations were imported by daily transfer from the study system and combined with data of centrally performed molecular-biological high-throughput experiments. Annotations are managed generically to easily support different studies and changing analysis needs. Grouping functions for genes, probes and samples that can be used later within analyses are available. Interactive Analyses for data visualization (e.g. heatmaps as displayed in Fig.1) allow a quick overview for hypothesis generation and statistic reports indicate significant values of the large-scale array data. Furthermore desired data can be extracted for specific analyses outside the platform. Discussion The analysis platform described here proved to be a valuable tool for storing, accessing and analysing high-dimensional gene expression and array-CGH data together with clinical, histopathological and other experimental data. The web-based interface allows interactive analyses for experimenters and the results are stored for further methods. The platform runs successfully within the cancer project MMML and will be extended for the aims of the German Glioma Network


Morantz shows that with the imposition of administration from the south the Crees had to confront a new set of foreigners whose ideas and plans were very different from those of the fur traders. In the 1930s and 1940s government intervention helped overcome the disastrous disappearance of the beaver through the creation of government-decreed preserves and a ban on beaver hunting, but beginning in the 1950s a revolving array of socio-economic programs instituted by the government brought the adverse effects of what Morantz calls bureaucratic colonialism. Drawing heavily on oral testimonies recorded by anthropologists in addition to eye-witness and archival sources, Morantz incorporates the Crees' own views, interests, and responses. She shows how their strong ties to the land and their appreciation of the wisdom of their way of life, coupled with the ineptness and excessive frugality of the Canadian bureaucracy, allowed them to escape the worst effects of colonialism. Despite becoming increasingly politically and economically dominated by Canadian society, the Crees succeeded in staving off cultural subjugation. They were able to face the massive hydroelectric development of the 1970s with their language, practices, and values intact and succeeded in negotiating a modern treaty. This detailed portrait of twentieth-century Canadian colonialism will be of interest to native studies specialists, anthropologists, and political scientists generally.


ARISTOPHANES: LYSISTRATA, THE WOMEN'S FESTIVAL AND FROGS, TRANSLATED AND WITH THEATRICAL COMMENTARIES BY MICHAEL EWANS (NORMAN, OKI OKLAHOMA UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2010)In this new translation of three comedies by Aristophanes, with Introduction and Theatrical Commentaries, Michael Ewans does us the enormous service of reminding us just how funny, wacky and creative Aristophanes really was. In the Preface and Introduction, Ewans highlights that these translations are 'new, accurate, and actable' (1, 43), and that they have been through either a workshop, in the case of Frogs, or full productions, Lysistrata and The Women's Festival - and in replicas of 'the original Greek stage shape' (1). They have been 'road tested for actability', drawing on his 'twenty-two years of experience in directing ancient Athenian tragedy and comedy, both in full productions and workshops of individual scenes' (32-3). This experience has facilitated the edition's 'unique' feature, the theatrical commentary, 'which deals with issues of staging both from the point of view of Aristophanes ... and from the perspective of those striving to reclaim these dramas by realizing their comic power in modern performance' (10). The aim of the edition is 'to try to place students, readers, and theatre practitioners inside Aristophanes' own comic world' (9).Ewans has largely achieved this aim. The translations are certainly vivid, down to earth and, for the most part, they read very well off the page - in the sense that I can imagine them being spoken with gusto by actors. Ewans declares himself to 'oppose "modernized" scripts' (29); that is, he is against updating, adapting or modifying the text (22), partly on the grounds that 'to graft a modern theme onto the socio-political fabric of the last few years of the fifth century BCE is almost impossible' (28). A fair comment, but I am not sure how it sits with his use of phrases like 'French kiss' (114), 'two dollars' (168), 'twenty bucks' (170), 'Cooeel' (174), and especially 'sushibar' (205). Ewans also insists on the use of 'modem' verse throughout (41-2), verse which is constantly shifting and freely conversational for much of the time, and in which the number of stresses might vary from three to six, as required by the English translation. While for much of the translation the verse is so free, varied and prose-like that it is difficult to perceive the presence of any rhythm, there are also more lyrical passages-where the Greek demands it-which show that Ewans is more than capable of finely tuned verse in English.Ewans is also against translators adding 'touches of their own humor ... there is no excuse for interposing our own inventions between our contemporaries and what the playwright actually wrote' (47). The theatrical commentaries are an attempt to elucidate what he calls the 'unwritten rules' of the Greek space (33), and it is these 'rules' that he champions in the commentaries. He claims that the practices he has discovered through his own practice-based research, using a replica of the ancient space - in 'an experimental studio and a natural outdoor amphitheatre in Newcastle, and in the ancient Odeion at Paphos' (32-3) - are 'Aristophanes' own practice' (48). Aristophanes certainly did not use an 'amphitheatre', since that term denotes a space in which the audience encircles the playing space all the way round Camphi' carrying the meaning 'on both sides'), like the Flavian Amphitheatre (or Coliseum) in Rome. But the main issue with Ewans' theatrical commentaries is that they are very often presented as 'correct', as if they were the only choices that any reasonable director - including the ancient one - could possibly make. The pervasive use of words like 'must', 'should', 'are best achieved by' and so on - as well as the overuse of the device of 'circling' the (square) orchestra floor as the solution to diverse staging issues - detracts from the many otherwise sensible and plausible suggestions. …


Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have unique properties of proliferation and self-renewal, and can be differentiated into various functional cell types. The differentiation processes are to a large extent controlled by transcription factors, which are key cellular components that control gene expression and determine how cells respond to the environment on various stimuli. Surprisingly little is known about the transcription factor activity in hPSCs, and more knowledge is needed about the transcriptional regulation during the differentiation processes. This information will be instrumental for development of efficient differentiation protocols to produce fully functional specialized cell types, for use in drug discovery and toxicity testing studies. This paper explores the expression of transcription factors in hPSCs, and gives an overview of the genomic organization of transcription factors, which likely are involved in the fate decision processes of hPSCs. In total 1,323 human transcription factors were selected from literature and further investigated for their genomic organization and their expression in hPSCs. Moreover, transcription factors that are highly expressed in undifferentiated hPSCs, compared to their differentiated progenies are identified and further investigated for protein-protein interaction activity using computational tools. The protein-protein interaction networks presented here will provide valuable information about the regulatory mechanisms, and reveal important proteins involved in the maintenance of the pluripotent state of stem cells.


Abstract
The chapter reflects on research that rethinks classic concerns of comparative and international education – the relationships between education and work and the role of education in development. The promises of knowledge-led economic growth have instead yielded increased inequality, poverty, environmental degradation and a decline in the quality of life for the majority, whether in advanced economies of the North, or least developed economies of the South. For education and training systems, the ability to understand these complex social, economic and technological challenges, interpret implications and integrate new practices in response, becomes critical. We reflect on the use of an innovation systems approach in the South, over time, to investigate the ways in which higher education responds to and interacts with, demand for skills from the economy. By highlighting the role of university actors and their interaction in networks, comparative and international researchers can move beyond dominant human capital accounts that focus only on the responsibility of higher education to become more responsive to firms, or on individuals to prepare themselves to be more employable, in a mechanistic reactive manner. This is a promising new emphasis for comparative research.


Eutrophication and contaminated sediments are preoccupying issues in aquatic ecosystems and water resources protection. Saint-Augustin Lake (Quebec, Canada) is affected by both problems (eutrophication and contaminated sediment) and the presence of de-icing salts. According to sustainable management principles, Galvez and collaborators are developing an in-lake remediation method to restore eutrophicated lakes which consists of (a) the precipitation of the phosphorus present in the water column by the addition of alum in association with (b) the deposit of an active capping layer (calcite+sand) to isolate P, Al, and the contaminated sediments. The objective of this study is to assess the ecotoxicological impact of this restoration method for the Saint-Augustin Lake. Two ecotoxicological approaches will be used to assess this impact: (a) single-species bioassays using algal (Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata; growth), duckweed (Lemna minor; growth), daphnid (Daphnia magna; survival and reproduction), amphipod (Hyalella azteca; survival and reproduction), and invertebrate (Chironomus riparius; survival, growth, and emergence); and (b) a 2-L microcosm assay using the same organisms for purpose of comparisons. Alum toxicity, calcite impact, and organisms' recolonization ability will be studied separately: first in artificial conditions, by using formulated sediments and artificial water and by considering de-icing salts impact, and secondly by using the sediments and overlying water of the Saint-Augustin lake. Preliminary results are available and presented here. No effect was measured for salt (NaCl) toxicity on algae, daphnids, chironomids, and amphipods. Alum inhibited algal growth strongly, had no impact on D. magna mobility and survival, but a clear dose-effect response was observed for daphnid reproduction. The global remediation method had almost the same effect as alum on P. subcapitata but stimulated daphnid reproduction at 10 mg/L alum, while it was reduced with 20 mg/L, and completely inhibited with 30 mg/L.


The Philippine government's Comprehensive Tax Reform Program Package 1 (CTRP-1) has sparked considerable discussion on its effects on households at different income levels. This paper focuses on the impact on income inequality of the CTRP-1, discerning gaps that continue to exist in the formulation of the tax reform package. Not only do we find that the overall gains of poorer deciles are less certain, once leakage issues in the delivery of targeted transfers are considered; due to higher increases in disposable income from the reform package that accrue to higher deciles, post-tax income inequality increases significantly. Following from the analysis, we present options for policymakers on how to enhance the reform package's response to inequality while preserving as much of its efficiency objectives. Lowering the PIT exemption threshold from PHP250,000 to PHP150,000 (as proposed by Senate Bill 1592) appears to regain some of the erosion of the Gini index that occurs with the House version of the bill; we determine, moreover, that effectively transferring PHP7,800 per household per annum, whether through cash transfers or earmarked programs, will serve to lower the Gini index by one full point from pre-tax levels. This outcome can be better guaranteed by increasing the earmarked share of petroleum excise taxes for social spending from 40% to 65%. Should the mobilization of additional resources prove necessary, three revenue-raising option are proposed: bank transactions taxes on demand deposits, a national land windfall tax or betterment levy, and increased sin taxes on tobacco products.


The behavior of a limited bandwidth light wave reflected from a material interface is studied theoretically. It is shown that near the anomalous dispersion zone, if the incident center wavelength is shifted by a small amount, this shift can be amplified by about three times in the reflected light.


Nevirapine (11-cyclopropyl-5,11-dihydro-4-methyl-6H-dipyrido[3,2-b:2',3'e][1,4]diazepin-6-one) is an antiretroviral drug belonging to the class of the non-nucleoside inhibitors of the HIV-1 virus reverse transcriptase. As most of this kind of antiretroviral drugs, nevirapine displays a butterfly-like conformation which is preserved in complexes with the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase. In this work, we present a detailed vibrational spectroscopy investigation of nevirapine by using mid-IR, near-IR, and Raman spectroscopies. These data are supported by quantum mech. calcns., which allow us to characterize completely the vibrational spectra of this compd. Based on these results, we discuss the correlation between the vibrational modes and the cryst. structure of the most stable form of nevirapine.


is book analyses the main factors in uencing the political economy of Africa's asymmetrical regionalism, focusing on regional and sub-regional trade, investment, movement of people, goods and services. It pays particular attention to the way in which regional and sub-regional dynamics are impacted by extra-regional relations, such with the EU, US, China and India. Because African regionalism is in uenced not only by economic processes, peace and security are also analysed as important factors shaping both regional and sub-regional relations and dynamics.


Introduction: Children and adolescents often suffer from adverse or even traumatic events. While clinicians and researchers so far have focused predominantly on their negative consequences more recently it has been postulated that traumatic events may exert positive effects in some individuals. In this context the concept of post-traumatic growth (PTG) has been investigated increasingly in adults. However, so far data in children and adolescents is rare.
Method: We performed a narrative review of the current literature regarding PTG especially in children and adolescents as well as the pertinent literature on the PTG framework in general.
Results: Data indicates that PTG in youth is quite similar to that observed among adults and can be assessed reliably in childhood and adolescents. However, mechanisms underlying the origination of PTG are still not sufficiently understood and further factors influencing its development have to be identified. Furthermore, there seems to be an overlap between PTG and concepts of resilience.
Conclusion: PTG should be considered in the aftermath of trauma and may be useful in therapeutic contexts. There is a considerable dearth of objective measures of PTG causing an intensive debate whether PTG is a real positive identity change or rather a kind of safety mechanism that may be interpreted as a subconscious strategy. Neurobiological data may help to further investigate the "real" character of PTG in the future.


The intersections and conversations between feminist geography and political geography have been surprisingly few. The notion of a feminist geopolitics remains undeveloped in geography. This paper aims to create a theoretical and practical space in which to articulate a feminist geopolitics. Feminist geopolitics is not an alternative theory of geopolitics, nor the ushering in of a new spatial order, but is an approach to global issues with feminist politics in mind. 'Feminist' in this context refers to analyses and political interventions that address the unequal and often violent relationships among people based on real or perceived differences. Building upon the literature from critical geopolitics, feminist international relations, and transnational feminist studies, I develop a framework for feminist political engagement. The paper interrogates concepts of human security and juxtaposes them with state security, arguing for a more accountable, embodied, and responsive notion of geopolitics. A feminist geopolitics is sought by examining politics at scales other than that of the nation-state; by challenging the public/private divide at a global scale; and by analyzing the politics of mobility for perpetrators of crimes against humanity. As such, feminist geopolitics is a critical approach and a contingent set of political practices operating at scales finer and coarser than the nation-state.


We studied the effect of the α2‐adrenoceptor agonist, clonidine, and bright artificial light (>2500 lux) on the nocturnal increase in plasma melatonin in normal subjects. Clonidine (1.5 μg/kg, intravenously) was without effect on plasma melatonin concentration. In contrast, bright light treatment abolished the increase in night‐time melatonin. Bright light is a simple and effective means of altering melatonin secretion in humans.


We propose the first privacy-preserving approach to address the privacy issues that arise in multi-agent planning problems modeled as a Dec-POMDP. Our solution is a distributed message-passing algorithm based on trials, where the agents' policies are optimized using the cross-entropy method. In our algorithm, the agents' private information is protected using a public-key homomorphic cryptosystem. We prove the correctness of our algorithm and analyze its complexity in terms of message passing and encryption/decryption operations. Furthermore, we analyze several privacy aspects of our algorithm and show that it can preserve the agent privacy of non-neighbors, model privacy, and decision privacy. Our experimental results on several common Dec-POMDP benchmark problems confirm the effectiveness of our approach.


The benefits of technology are not without limits (Clayton & Macdonald, 2013), but for those who have access to high quality ICT, there are advantages. As more everyday services go on-line, there is a danger that those who are not accessing such channels become further excluded. The gap which exists between those who have access to ICT and those who do not is known as the digital divide (National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 1995). While the number of UK based non-users of ICT is declining (Ofcom, 2008), recent figures indicate that 40% of adults in the UK are still not accessing and using the Internet (UK Online Centres, 2007), and that digital exclusion is highly correlated with social exclusion.
The socio-economic profiles of non-users of ICT indicate that social class positions heavily influence access to the 'opportunity structure' of ICT (Selwyn, 2003). Those who suffer deep social disadvantage are up to seven times more likely to be disengaged from the Internet than those who are more socially advantaged (Helsper, 2008). There is a fundamental inequality in the current levels of access to ICT (Graham, 2002), which favours more advantaged social groups and more affluent and connected localities (Russell and Stafford, 2002). A pressing need has been identified to provide meaningful access to digital resources for excluded social groups and geographic communities. Although technology providers will be involved in any digital inclusion solution, it is recognised that market forces alone cannot address this situation (UK Online Centres, 2007). Indeed, it is argued that market forces actually perpetuate the division by focussing their efforts upon more lucrative markets rather than fulfilling any moral obligation (Graham, 2002; Prime Ministers' Strategy Unit, 2005). While public intervention is not without its critics, who argue that differences in ownership will erode over time (Thierer, 2000; Compaine, 2001; Fink and Kenny, 2003), it is unlikely that those who are currently unable to adequately access ICT (or the skills necessary to use it to its potential) will become engaged without some form of state led intervention.
Digital inclusion is increasingly identified as a priority area in the UK, to assist access to opportunities (Prime Ministers' Strategy Unit, 2005). Although some key issues remain problematic, especially connectivity and take up of e-Government services (Ottens, 2005), the UK is recognised as leading in digital inclusion (Lupescu, 2009; Carter, 2009).
There has been much research on the topic of technology acceptance and diffusion (Rogers, 2003) with theoretical models such as the Technology Ac-ceptance Model (Davis, 1989) now well accepted, and the last few years have seen a significant bolstering of the national digital inclusion agenda; however, there remains a lack of empirical research in a UK context (Phipps, 2000; Gaved & Anderson, 2006). This chapter examines the extent to which one UK city: Sunderland, has become digitally enabled and the impact of these activities. The chapter presents a city-wide study of the impact of local digital inclusion initiatives.


This case study examines St. Malachy, an urban Catholic elementary school primarily serving children traditionally marginalized by race, class, linguistic heritage, and disability. As a private school, St. Malachy serves the public good by recruiting and retaining such traditionally marginalized students. As empirical studies involving Catholic schools frequently juxtapose them with public schools, the author presents this examination from a different tack. Neither vilifying nor glorifying Catholic schooling, this study critically examines the pursuit of social justice in this school context. Data gathered through a 1-year study show that formal and informal leaders in St. Malachy adapted their governance, aggressively sought community resources, and focused their professional development to build the capacity to serve their increasingly pluralistic student population. The analysis confirms the deepening realization that striving toward social justice is a messy, contradictory, and complicated pursuit, and that schools in both public and private sectors are allies in this pursuit.


The theory of time-averaged holography for static displacements is extended to include three-dimensional vibrations of the most general kind at a single frequency. The introduction of the theory of generalized least squares to solve the nonlinear characteristic equation allows the determination of component amplitudes and phases. The theory is used to analyze the motion of a cylinder with shear-diaphragm ends vibrating in coupled temporal modes and a distorted cylinder vibrating in superposed spatial modes.


This paper analyses the roles that local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can play in agricultural development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Two fundamental roles are commonly discerned: service delivery and advocacy as civil society organisation. Based on empirical research in Benin, the paper analyses and compares the requirements of different roles and typical activities in agricultural development on the one hand with motivations and characteristics of local NGOs on the other hand. This includes the analysis of the social and political environment as the decisive factor for NGO emergence and activity selection. Findings suggest that due to internal factors such as motivation, skills and capacity, and to external conditions such as donors' special interests and funding, local NGOs have problems in delivering on both of their roles. It is concluded that the potential of local NGOs can be best put into practice in pluralistic institutional arrangements. Here, they are best suited to carry out activities at the interface between the rural population and other actors in rural development, while more professional services are feasible if specialisation is supported. This support must include appropriate framework conditions, a long-term and adapted commitment by donors, and adequate preparation of staff.


Histamine stimulation of phosphoinositide breakdown has been studied in brain cortex from developing rats by measuring the accumulation of [3H]inositol monophosphate in lithium-treated slices prelabeled with [3H]inositol. Histamine stimulated phosphoinositide hydrolysis as early as day 3 after birth. The maximal response increased about 3-fold up to day 15 and remained essentially at the same level until adulthood. This developmental pattern contrasted with the 8-fold increase in [3H]mepyramine binding to histamine H1 receptors which takes place from the first to the end of the fourth week of life. Nonlinear regression analysis of concentration-effect curves for histamine generated at 6, 10, and 15 days of age revealed the presence of two components in the response, whereas a single component was found in adults. A high potency component showed EC50 values increasing from 6.4 microM at day 6 to 26.5 microM at day 15, and its contribution to the maximal response augmented from 65.8% to 78.9% during the same period. In 6-day-old animals, the H1 receptor agonists N alpha-methylhistamine and N alpha,N alpha-dimethylhistamine produced single-component responses with maximal effects similar to that estimated for the high potency component for histamine, and their relative potencies were consistent with an H1 receptor-mediated response. Inhibition constants for mepyramine, calculated from the parallel displacement of the concentration-response curves for N alpha-methylhistamine and the high potency component for histamine (6.3 nM and 10.8 nM, respectively) closely agreed with the reported affinity of rat brain H1 receptors for this compound. The low potency component of the response (EC50 = 175 microM at day 6 and EC50 = 260 microM at day 15) did not involve histamine-H2, serotonin 5-HT2, alpha 1-adrenergic, or muscarinic receptors. Pretreatment of 6-day-old cortical slices with the irreversible antagonist phenoxybenzamine, at concentrations that completely abolish [3H]mepyramine binding, left about 25% of the response to 1 mM histamine unaffected. This portion of the response, which was, moreover, insensitive to 1 microM mepyramine, was of a magnitude similar to that of the low potency component. Thus, at early stages of rat brain development, histamine induces phosphoinositide hydrolysis in part through a mechanism different from activation of H1 receptors. The loss of histamine potency and efficacy at H1 receptors throughout development is discussed and the natural occurrence of H1 receptor subsensitivity suggested.


It is clear from the High Court's decisions in Wik and Ward that, for the purpose of the statutory regimes regulating the alienation of land in Australia, 'Crown land' means land in respect of which the Crown has 'radical title'. A l tho~~gh t e concept of radical title had emerged in Mabo, it was not unequivocally clear whether it denoted a bare legal title sufjcient to support the Crown5 right to acquire and conjer title or a full benejicial interest except to the extent of native title. This arcticle argues that, because both legal authority and principle support the former interpretation of radical title in the context of general schemes of land regulation, the pre-Mabo view that statutory dejinitions of 'Crown land' r,.fer to land which is the 'property' of the Crown no longer reflects the law in Australia. It will be seen that this concl~~sioiz is consistent with the High Court's treatment of residuary rights to, and resumptions of, Crown land in Wik and Ward respectively, as well as the policy andp~irpose of the legislation relating to Crown land and the postMabo High Court's analysis of it gener,~lly and, in particular, the statutory trespass provisions. It is also consistent with the constitutional settlement of the mid-19"' century, by which the Crown's prerogatives to grant interests in land and to appropriate land to itself were displaced by statutory powers: although this effected a transfer ofpolitical power and not title, the statutory dejinition of 'Crown land', like the common law dejinition of 'waste lands', presupposed, rather than conferred, the Crown's title to unalienated land. Further support for the proposition that, irrespective of the presence of native title, the Crown nzust exercise its sovereign power before its radical title converts to full benejicial ownership, before 'Crown land' becomes 'Crown property', is provided by the Crown's power of eminent domain: a power which conzpliments the Crown's radical title and shares the same underlying rationale.


To better understand how consumers perceive food safety risks in retail food store settings, a survey was administered to 1,041 nationally representative participants who evaluated possible food safety risks depicted in selected photographs and self-reported their perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. Participants were shown 12 photographs taken at retail stores portraying either commonly perceived or actual food safety contributing factors, such as cross-contamination, product and equipment temperatures, worker hygiene, and/or store sanitation practices. Participants were then asked to specifically identify what they saw, comment as to whether what they saw was safe or unsafe, and articulate what actions they would take in response to these situations. In addition to the survey, focus groups were employed to supplement survey findings with qualitative data. Survey respondents identified risk factors for six of nine actual contributing factor photographs >50% of the time: poor produce storage sanitation (86%, n = 899), cross-contamination during meat slicing (72%, n = 750), bare-hand contact of ready-to-eat food in the deli area (67%, n = 698), separation of raw and ready-to-eat food in the seafood case (63%, n = 660), cross-contamination from serving utensils in the deli case (62%, n = 644), and incorrect product storage temperature (51%, n = 528). On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 was very unsafe and 5 was very safe, a significant difference was found between average risk perception scores for photographs of actual contributing factors (score of ca. 2.5) and scores for photographs of perceived contributing factors (score of ca. 2.0). Themes from the focus groups supported the results of the survey and provided additional insight into consumer food safety risk perceptions. The results of this study inform communication interventions for consumers and retail food safety professionals aimed at improving hazard identification.


Missing rainfall data are a major limitation for distributed hydrological modeling and climate studies. Practitioners need reliable approaches that can be employed on a daily basis, often with too limited data in space to feed complex predictive models. In this study we compare different automatic approaches for missing data imputation, including geostatistical interpolation and pattern-based estimation algorithms. We introduce two pattern-based approaches based on the analysis of historical data patterns: (i) an iterative version of K-nearest neighbor (IKNN) and (ii) a new algorithm called vector sampling (VS) that combines concepts of multiple-point statistics and resampling. Both algorithms can draw estimations from variably incomplete data patterns, allowing the target dataset to be at the same time the training dataset. Tested on five case studies from Denmark, Australia, and Switzerland, the algorithms show a different performance that seems to be related to the terrain type: on flat terrains with spatially homogeneous rain events, geostatistical interpolation tends to minimize the average error, while in mountainous regions with nonstationary rainfall statistics, data mining can recover better the rainfall patterns. The VS algorithm, requiring minimal parameterization, turns out to be a convenient option for routine application on complex and poorly gauged terrains.


In this paper, we present a multi target particle filter DOA tracker that can incorporate road prior information at a single array node. The filter uses a batch of DOA's to determine the state vector, based on an image template matching idea. The filter likelihood is derived with the joint probability density association principles so that no DOA measurement is associated to more than one target. The filter state update has the target DOA, the target velocity over range ratio, and the target heading parameters. We present two approaches for incorporating the road information. In the first approach, the road prior is injected at the weighting stage of the tracker, where a raised mixture Gaussian distribution, derived from the road headings at the target DOA, constraints the particles. The second approach is based on modifying the state update function with a compound model, where a mixture of the constant velocity model and the road information is used. In this case, the filter uses an online EM algorithm to update the state vector along with the mixture components. Computer simulations demonstrate the performance of the approaches


Phylogenetic patterns of change in spider silk coloration provide insight into the selective pressures directing evolution of silks. Trends toward evolution of silks with low reflectance of ultraviolet (UV) light suggest that reduced UV reflectance may be an adaptation to reduce visibility of webs to insect prey. However, a test of the visibility of primitive and derived spider silks is lacking. Several genera of orb-weaving spiders include conspicuous designs of silk, called ''stabilimenta,'' at the center of their webs. Due to their large size, stabilimenta present signals that insects can use to avoid webs. Unlike other silks in the orb web, which reflect little UV light, evolutionarily derived stabilimentum silk retains a bright UV reflectance. But, unlike primitive silks, stabilimentum silk also reflects large amounts of blue and green light. We compared the visibility of primitive tarantula silks and derived stabilimentum silks to insects by using the ability of honey bees to learn to forage at targets of spider silk. We found that the unique spectral properties of stabilimentum silk render it cryptic to insects and that primitive silks are more visible to bees. Our findings support a hypothesis that the coloration of stabilimentum silk is an adaptation to reduce the ability of insects to avoid webs and that ancient biases in the color vision of insects have acted upon the evolution of spider silk coloration through sensory drive. But our findings question the emphasis on UV reflectance alone for visibility of spider silks to insects.


Named Data Networking (NDN) is the most promising paradigm recently conceived for future Internet architectures, where communications are driven by content instead of host addresses. To realize this novel paradigm, three novel tables, namely Content Store, Pending Interest Table, and Forwarding Information Base, are utilized in NDN forwarding plane. Designing and evaluating the quick enough forwarding plane with high capacity is a major challenge within the overall NDN research area. Since NDN was proposed in 2010, there have been many efforts focusing on this challenge and a rich literature has been developed. Unfortunately, there is a lack of the comprehensive sketch about the requirements of NDN forwarding plane and the study on various schemes proposed. Focusing on the above insufficiency, this survey gives the complete requirements and compares all the schemes proposed for NDN forwarding plane based on the data structure utilized. In addition, the survey also discusses some issues, challenges, and directions in future research. It is considered that designing a novel data structure to meet all requirements of the forwarding plane and studying on a better structure of content store play important roles, while discussing the necessity of a unified index, combining with other contents in NDN research and implementing a unified benchmark are also required in this domain.


ABSTRACT This article explores the specific textual strategies employed by Marvel Studios to construct insider and outsider audiences of the interlinked film series comprising the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It argues that Marvel Studios is borrowing storytelling strategies developed by Marvel Comics in the 1960s as a means of growing audiences for film franchises in a modular fashion. These strategies include the use of anticipatory postcredit sequences that serve as advertising teases for future releases; "Easter eggs," or semi-hidden onscreen elements intended to be noticed only by certain viewers; crossovers, or the use of characters from one franchise in the film or television program of other characters; linked repercussions, narrative consequences that play out across multiple media properties; and modular story development, a development strategy intended to reduce economic risk. It is noted, ironically, that the strategies that have led to the current fascination with superhero films are the same ones that caused the collapse of interest in superhero comic books.


Background Source identification in areas with outbreaks of airborne pathogens is often time-consuming and expensive. We developed a model to identify the most likely location of sources of airborne pathogens. Methods As a case study, we retrospectively analyzed three Q fever outbreaks in the Netherlands in 2009, each with suspected exposure from a single large dairy goat farm. Model input consisted only of case residential addresses, day of first clinical symptoms, and human population density data. We defined a spatial grid and fitted an exponentially declining function to the incidence-distance data of each grid point. For any grid point with a fit significant at the 95% confidence level, we calculated a measure of risk. For validation, we used results from abortion notifications, voluntary (2008) and mandatory (2009) bulk tank milk sampling at large (i.e. >50 goats and/or sheep) dairy farms, and non-systematic vaginal swab sampling at large and small dairy and non-dairy goat/sheep farms. In addition, we performed a two-source simulation study. Results Hotspots – areas most likely to contain the actual source – were identified at early outbreak stages, based on the earliest 2–10% of the case notifications. Distances between the hotspots and suspected goat farms varied from 300–1500 m. In regional likelihood rankings including all large dairy farms, the suspected goat farms consistently ranked first. The two-source simulation study showed that detection of sources is most clear if the distance between the sources is either relatively small or relatively large. Conclusions Our model identifies the most likely location of sources in an airborne pathogen outbreak area, even at early stages. It can help to reduce the number of potential sources to be investigated by microbial testing and to allow rapid implementation of interventions to limit the number of human infections and to reduce the risk of source-to-source transmission.


Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterised by chronically poor air flow. Typically, it worsens over time. The main symptoms include shortness of breath, coughing and sputum production. Most people with chronic bronchitis have COPD. Tobacco smoking is the most common cause of COPD. A number of other factors, such as air pollution and genetics, play a smaller role. One of the common sources of air pollution is poorly vented cooking and heating fires in the developing world. Longterm exposure to these irritants causes an inflammatory response in the lungs, resulting in narrowing of the small airways and breakdown of the lung tissue, leading to emphysema. Genetic involvement, i.e. alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, is now a recognized cause. The diagnosis is based on poor air flow, as measured by lung function tests. In contrast to asthma, the air flow reduction does not improve significantly with the administration of a bronchodilator. COPD can be prevented by reducing exposure to known environmental risk factors. This includes an effort to decrease the rate of smoking and to improve indoor and outdoor air quality. COPD treatment includes stopping smoking, vaccinations, rehabilitation, and often inhaled bronchodilators and steroids. Some people may benefit from long-term oxygen therapy or lung transplantation. Increased use of medication and hospitalization may be needed in those who have periods of acute worsening. Worldwide, COPD effects 329 million people, or nearly 5% of the population. In 2013, it resulted in 2.9 million deaths, up from 2.4 million deaths in 1990. The number of deaths is projected to increase owing to higher smoking rates and an ageing population in many countries. New treatments are also emerging very slowly.


As in many other countries, such as in Europe, Canada has increased its anti-trafficking efforts since this crime was included in the criminal code in 2005. However, trafficking for labour exploitation remains poorly addressed in the current anti-trafficking response. Concerns related to domestic sex trafficking have dominated the landscape and driven the bulk of government actions, leaving labour trafficking side way. This paper reviews the evolution the Canadian governance of trafficking and examines the key challenges in addressing trafficking for labour exploitation. The paper draws on a study conducted in Canada between 2011 and 2013, and which is based on 79 interviews with key stakeholders. One key argument of the analysis presented in this paper is that the Canadian policy has been shaped by national mobilisation around the issue of sexual exploitation of young women, especially adolescent girls as well as Aboriginal women. Further, this framing and conception of trafficking interact with the legal definition of trafficking in the criminal code and the ways in which it is applied. Indeed, the current trafficking offence is less easily understood as applying to situations of labour exploitation. However, labour trafficking is progressively emerging as a matter that deserves public and political interest. Migrants' and refugees' rights organisations, as well as civil society anti-trafficking initiatives, play a role in raising awareness about this issue and including this issue in the government actions.


We studied the waveguiding properties of a photonic quasicrystal based on an octagonal tiling. The structure exhibits intrinsic localisation in the band gap region, that can be exploited to manipulate the signal transmission through a linear defect. The electromagnetic characteristics are first numerically analysed using a full wave simulation and then experimentally verified by measurements carried out in the X-band microwave region. Possible photonic applications include tunable notch filters having large attenuation.


This study investigates the relational layers of meanings that people experience at places in their food environment, and how individuals express a sense of place through their collective interactions with, and understandings of, food places. It also explores the patterns of difference among these meanings of place and sense of place in terms of their potential association with dietary quality. The context of this inquiry was two-fold: first, the need identified by several population health researchers and to re-imagine place as relational and include it in the study of behavioural responses to the changing food environment; and secondly, my interest in examining how existing theories of place and sense of place can help explicate people-place-food interactions, a hitherto untested application. Methodologically, this study follows a mixed-methods approach, and is based on semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of inner-city residents of Waterloo, Ontario. To focus on individuals' interactions with their food environment, attention is centred on the set of places that they choose to visit routinely to buy food or eat out: a hypothetical construct termed their "personal food environment" (PFE). The mapping of the PFE at each interview became an elicitation tool to verbally draw out the subjective, social and spatial meanings embedded in each place. Analysis with grounded theory also revealed the roles that food plays in shaping facets of personal sense of place, including feelings of belonging or alienation, active involvement and impulsiveness, and, for some people, a sense of connectedness on a global and/or local scale. A subset of these meanings of place and places was reflected in dietary behaviour, as measured by the Canadian Healthy Eating Index, and suggested four place-diet links. The interconnected conceptual and empirical qualities of place and food that emerged from this study are summarized in a conceptual framework. They represent parameters of the PFE that could be tested, defined and validated for use in future research. The findings of this dissertation suggest the need for similar studies with different demographic and geographic groups, and will consequently be of interest to theorists of place and health as well as to planners, food advocates and health professionals to inform programs and policy.


Abstract Sulfhydrylbystrite, Na5K2Ca(Al6Si6O24)(S5)(SH), cell parameters a = 12.9567(6) Å, c = 10.7711(5) Å, space group P31c, is a new mineral belonging to the cancrinite group. It was found at Malaya Bystraya lazurite deposit, Lake Baikal area, Eastern Siberian Region, Russia, associated with lazurite, calcite, diopside, phlogopite and pyrite. The mineral develops at the margins of masses of lazurite, replacing it in some areas with the formation of nonequilibrium lazurite-diopside-sulfhydrylbystrite association. It is translucent, yellow to orange, with vitreous lustre, yellow streak and Mohs hardness of 4.5-5. The empirical formula, based on 12 (Si + Al), is Na5.17K1.87Ca0.99[Al6.01Si5.99O24](S5)2-0.86(SH0.86)Cl0.07, Z = 2. The crystal structure of sulfhydrylbystrite may be described as an ABAC stacking of six-membered rings of SiO4 and AlO4 tetrahedra and extra-framework cations and anions located within structural cages. There are two type of cages, cancrinite and losod, stacked into chains at (0, 0, z) and (⅔, ⅓, z), respectively. The cancrinite cage hosts Ca2+ and (SH)- ions, whereas the (S5)2- polyanion is in the losod cage associated with Na+ and K+ cations. In addition, (SH)- and (S5)2- anions are detected in the structure of a mineral for the first time. For comparison, a structural and compositional study of a bystrite sample from the same deposit was carried out. Bystrite is confirmed to contain pentasulfide anions in the losod cages, similar to those of sulfhydrylbystrite, in contrast to previous studies. However, bystrite has chloride in cancrinite cages, whereas sulfhydrylbystrite has hydrosulfide in that position. The unit-cell parameters are distinctly different: bystrite has a = 12.8527(6) Å, c = 10.6907(5) Å in the same P31c space group.


Measures of patient satisfaction with health care experiences are recognized as essential in the healthcare market environment. To our knowledge, there are no specific patient experience measures that assess patient and caregiver satisfaction with a multidisciplinary approach to management of complex feeding and swallowing issues in pediatric patients. In order to explore patient experience and to identify opportunities for improvement, a pilot patient satisfaction survey was developed in an interdisciplinary feeding team clinic. Patients and families were surveyed following clinic encounters between July of 2014 and January of 2015. Likert style questions were used to assess experience with ease of scheduling, perception of the team's ability to understand feeding concerns, and to identify agreement with the appropriateness of recommendations. Two open-ended questions were used to elicit qualitative responses regarding what was positive about the experience and what could be improved or done differently. Qualitative responses were categorized by opportunities for improvement and affirmative statements. Analysis of survey results indicated high levels of satisfaction (96%) with the team's ability to understand feeding concerns and to provide feasible recommendations for treatment options. Satisfaction scores for scheduling were lower (92%); dissatisfaction with the next available options for appointments and with the overall length of the visit was identified. The pilot patient satisfaction project confirmed satisfaction with a multidisciplinary approach to feeding problems in pediatric patients, and identified opportunities for future quality improvement. Ongoing patient satisfaction measures will provide a mechanism to identify the effects of future improvement measures.


The present article sets out to introduce and to compare abstinent and renunciant practices in Judaism and Hinduism. In the Jewish sources, the abstinent individual is referred to as a Nazirite, while in Hinduism the widely used term is Sanyasin. In what follows, I describe the actual practices associated with renunciation in each of the two religions; what brings someone to take vows of the renouncing kind, and the objective which the renouncer aspires to achieve. Parallel with these considerations, I also study the social attitude toward the abstainer among the Jews and among Hindus; is the practice seen in a positive, or perhaps  in a negative light? Is the renunciant a hero, a righteous individual, an exemplary figure or, possibly, a transgressor treading an iniquitous path, so that criticism should be leveled at the way of life he or she has chosen? The conclusion of the article is that the Nazirite and the Sanyasin has very little in common, in their reasons to become a renunciant, in their goals they both try to achieve, in their ways to achieve them and in the attitude of the communities towards them.


This paper presents a bidirectional optical data transmission system as an enhancement of a contactless power transmission system (CPTS). The latter consists of two separate devices and is able to transmit up to 240W of electrical power using inductive resonant coupling. The optical system consists of two self-developed light-guiding structures and a short-reach free-space optical path. As source and sink of the optical system a light-emitting diode resp. a photodiode with a centroid wavelength of 850nm are used. The optical system is positioned within the CPTS; it transmits the PROFIBUS protocol. Due to the restrictions given by the applications areas of the CPTS, such as air gap up to 5°mm, misalignment up to 2 mm, tilting up to 5 and rotation angle up to 360°, different kinds of light-guiding structures are analyzed by simulation. Based on these results the most promising structures are selected and manufactured. Hereafter the attenuation and the near field characteristic of one light-guiding structure is analyzed. After this, the attenuation based on misalignment, variation of air gap, tilting and rotation between two light-guiding structures are analyzed by measurement. To check whether the requirements of the PROFIBUS has been satisfied by the complete data transmission system, the transient transmission behavior of the system was analyzed by a pseudo-random bit stream. In this paper the most important results of the design, the simulation and the measurement are explained. The presented results demonstrate the ability to design of such systems based on simulations and to evaluate the suitability of various geometries for present and future works.


Direct Product Profit (DPP) is a decision making tool that helps the food merchandiser by providing a better indication of the profitability of products on the supermarket shelves. Direct Product Profit allocates Direct Product Costs (DPC) to individual products. These DPCs are subtracted from gross margin to derive DPP. This paper reports on the use of DPP in the syrup product section of a chain of supermarkets. Implications for managerial action are also discussed.


The study was conducted during October 2013 February 2014 on twelve horses from several cities from Arad County, Romania. The aim was to identify the species of small strongyle nematodes (cyathostomin spp.) expelled after deworming of horses using fenbendazole 30 % at a dose of 10 mg per body weight. For this study only the horses with 250 strongyle eggs per gram of faeces or more have been selected. The faeces were collected 24, 36, 48 hours after the treatment for the identification of the strongyles expelled. All helminths expelled were collected in physiological serum, washed and fixed in lactophenol for 2 days for clarification of the anatomical structures and maintained in 70 % ethanol for later identification. All of the helmiths expelled were small strongyles (cyathostomin spp.) and identified by morphological criteria proposed by Tolliver, 2000 and Lichtenfels et al., 2008. The cyathostomins species found were: Cyathostomum catinatum, Cyathostomum pateratum, Cylicocyclus nassatus, Cylicostephanus longibursatus, Cylicostephanus goldi and Petrovinema poculatus


One of mathematicians9 most beloved Web sites is getting ready for a makeover, it was reported at the Joint Mathematics Meetings. The Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences, established by Neil Sloane at AT&T Labs Research in 1996 and run largely as a one-man shop, is poised to go "wiki," with 50 associate editors taking over much of the workload. The OEIS, or simply "Sloane" as it9s known to sequence fanatics, is a database of nearly 200,000 lists of numbers—a mathematical equivalent to the FBI9s voluminous fingerprint files. Much as fingerprints give police a quick way to link a new crime to earlier ones, sequences enable researchers to make connections between mathematical problems that might otherwise go unnoticed.


Cockroaches are among the most notorious pests of premises, which not only contaminate food by leaving droppings and bacteria that can cause food poisoning but also they transmit bacteria, fungi and other pathogenic microorganisms in infected areas. Cockroaches feed indiscriminately on garbage and sewage and so have copious opportunity to disseminate human pathogens. Cockroacheswere collected fromdifferent sites of tertiary care hospitals. In total 20 cockroaches were collected and processed on Blood agar, Macconkey agar andNutrient agar by using spread platemethod. Microorganisms were isolated and identification both internal and external surface of cockroaches. The identification test was carried out by using micro morphological and cultural characteristics. Antibiotic sensitivity test was conducted onMHA plates. Four isolates were identified from external surface such as Escherichia coli, Bacillus sps, Staphylococcus sps, and Pseudomonas sps and three different isolates were identified in internal surface such as Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas sps and Salmonella sps. In the present study revealed that cockroaches carried 75% of Pseudomonas sps, 25% of Salmonella sps. In the cockroaches carrying Pseudomonas sps had a high infection rate when compared to others.


One of the Indonesian government's program to reduce poverty based on economic empowerment of micro and small enterprises is People's Business Credit (KUR), which is working capital financing or investment were given to productive enterprises in micro, small, medium enterprises and cooperatives (UMKMK) decent or feasible but not yet bankable. The problem that often occurs is the high loan loss (loans that are not paid by the debtor), one of the reasons for the determination of improper KUR recipients. Based on these problems, we need a decision support method that can help determine the proper recipient of KUR. the method used in this study is PROMETHEE (Preference Ranking Organization for Evaluation) is one method to determine priorities in the analysis MCDM (Multi-Criteria Decision Making), which is a technique of decision-making of some alternative choices. Research methods PROMETHEE will produce the composition of the rank or rank candidates KUR which has a credit risk lowest to highest, the rating is based on the value obtained from the calculation of Net Flow of each alternative / potential recipients KUR, Net Flow high means it is recommended to be recipients KUR because it is expected to have a low credit risk. Keywords: Decision support system, Promethee method, Kredit Usaha Rakyat, Multi criteria decision making.


ISSN: 2199-5346 Br ig itt a Ha us er -S ch äu bl in W om en in K ar ar au T book o ers a glimpse back in time to a Middle Sepik society, the Iatmul, first investigated by the anthropologist Gregory Bateson in the late 1920s while the feminist anthropologist Margaret Mead worked on sex roles among the neighbouring Tchambuli (Chambri) people. The author lived in the Iatmul village of Kararau in 1972/3 where she studied women's lives, works, and knowledge in detail. She revisited the Sepik in 2015 and 2017. The book, the translation of a 1977 publication in German, is complemented by two chapters dealing with the life of the Iatmul in the 2010s. It presents rich quantitative and qualitative data on subsistence economy, marriage, and women's knowledge concerning myths and rituals. Besides, life histories and in-depth interviews convey deep insights into women's experiences and feelings, especially regarding their varied relationships with men in the early 1970s. Since then, Iatmul culture has changed in many respects, especially as far as the economy, religion, knowledge, and the relationship between men and women are concerned. In her aŠerword, the anthropologist Christiane Falck highlights some of the major topics raised in the book from a 2018 perspective, based on her own fieldwork which she commenced in 2012. Thus, the book provides the reader with detailed information about gendered lives in this riverine village of the 1970s and an understanding of the cultural processes and dynamics that have taken place since.


The first parliamentary elections that followed the Egyptian Revolution witnessed an unprecedented success for Islamists as they secured an overwhelming majority of seats in parliament, suggesting that they may intend to amend many laws to bring parliament into compliance with Islamic Shari'a. This article addresses legal challenges that will face the new majority if they decide to Islamize laws and regulations related to business and finance. Particularly, the article discusses Islamic money theory, trade, banking systems, consumer protection, insurance, competition, and tax systems. The article analyzes Egyptian business and finance laws to examine whether they comply with Islamic law. It then proceeds to explain the alternative Islamic principles that may replace several current rules. The article concludes that while some changes are foreseeable, there can be no expectation of radical change in the near future. Although the authors come to this conclusion, they analyze the legal issues without judging, supporting, or opposing the imposition of Islamic law.


The performance of machine learning models under distribution shift has been the focus of the community in recent years. Most of current methods have been proposed to improve the robustness to distribution shift from the algorithmic perspective, i.e., designing better training algorithms to help the generalization in shifted test distributions. This paper studies the distribution shift problem from the perspective of pre-training and data augmentation, two important factors in the practice of deep learning that have not been systematically investigated by existing work. By evaluating seven pre-trained models, including ResNets and ViT's with self-supervision and supervision mode, on five important distribution-shift datasets, from WILDS and DomainBed benchmarks, with five different learning algorithms, we provide the first comprehensive empirical study focusing on pre-training and data augmentation. With our empirical result obtained from 1,330 models, we provide the following main observations: 1) ERM combined with data augmentation can achieve state-of-the-art performance if we choose a proper pre-trained model respecting the data property; 2) specialized algorithms further improve the robustness on top of ERM when handling a specific type of distribution shift, e.g., GroupDRO for spurious correlation and CORAL for large-scale out-of-distribution data; 3) Comparing different pre-training modes, architectures and data sizes, we provide novel observations about pre-training on distribution shift, which sheds light on designing or selecting pre-training strategy for different kinds of distribution shifts. In summary, our empirical study provides a comprehensive baseline for a wide range of pre-training models fine-tuned with data augmentation, which potentially inspires research exploiting the power of pre-training and data augmentation in the future of distribution shift study.


With the emergence and evolution of computer hardware, software and networks - virtual classrooms now exist which enable teachers and students to experience learning activities and to work together at a distance either directly or on a part-time basis. We are increasingly confronted with a need for 'lifelong training' and it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to attend physical classrooms on a full-time basis. Research to date has highlighted an area of interest with regard to teaching computer programming in an online environment. We investigate here the use of a Cognitive Apprenticeship-Based Learning Environment (CABLE) in the teaching of Java programming in an attempt to validate its effectiveness. This paper outlines the result of using a pedagogical model which employed a combination of instructional strategies including directive support, responsive cognitive apprenticeship, collaborative learning, stimulating metacognition (organising, motivating (through a "spark", modifying one's own skills), and using various technologies via the use of online discussion through Blackboard.


The literature highlights the importance of product review information to a consumer, but limited knowledge exists on the provision of such information in a shopping website. This research uses information foraging theory (IFT) to determine how to provide product reviews. Product reviews differ according to whether the content is mainly on product attributes (i.e., attribute-oriented product reviews) or usage experience (i.e., usage-oriented product reviews). Two empirical studies were conducted. Study 1 examined consumer information diet for product reviews using the think-aloud approach. Results showed that consumers use two different genres of product review information sequentially (1) to follow product attribute-oriented review information during the screening phase and (2) to forage for product usage-oriented review information during the evaluation phase. The findings were extended to Study 2 through a field experiment, in which different patches of product reviews were purposefully and sequentially given in accordance with the consumer information diet for product reviews. The results revealed that an online shopping website could offer varying genres of product reviews at different junctures to enhance consumers' decision-making performance. This research presents empirical evidence on the effectiveness of embedding product review information on a shopping website. This work further contributes to IFT, which is traditionally descriptive and conceptual in nature, by theorizing information provision and information-foraging behaviors of online consumers.


The economic life of Latvia entered a new phase after the disintegration of the USSR and restoration of independence on August 1991. This period is characterized by a decrease in gross national product, by deterioration of living standards, by essential structural changes, by hyperinflation caused by monetary emission by an alien country, among other factors. The economic reforms should be based in acquisition of strategic targets, although this would prolong the crisis for a certain period of time. The economic reforms in Latvia are more closely linked with legal, political and demographic problems as they are in any other postsocialist country in Eastern and Central Europe. In accordance with the Hague convention and other international agreements, the rebirth of the Latvian Republic as an independent state claims to observe the principle of inviolability of property rights during the Soviet occupation. It means that in Latvia one should respect the property rights of Latvian citizens and others whose property was nationalized or illegally expropriated after June 17, 1940.


The success of modern business is apparent, but recently there is much concern in the business-and-society literature and in the general press on whether business fulfils its social role responsibly. Business ethics, corporate social responsibility and corporate governance movements have been developed in recent decades as responses to a growing sense of corporate wrongdoing. This paper attempts to explain why the three movements seem yet to have generated little in the form of widely accepted prescriptions for improvement of business behaviour to the satisfaction of the "constituents" of business, i.e. the major stakeholders. Without denying the usefulness of any of the three movements, the paper suggests that there are weaknesses in all three, especially concerning the way they conceive modern business operation. To this end business pluralism, responsive codes of practice and re-examination of the assumptions (conditions) of business operation could be helpful.


This is the motto of the struggling hero Spiderman. The continuous struggle of Spiderman with grasping his powers as well as linking this to his responsibilities not only provides an exiting sequel, but also a strong metaphor for the struggle of big corporations around the world when confronted with the challenges of fair trade. Society contains immense power asymmetries, but does that also imply power abuse and unfairness? The fourth Max Havelaar lecture concentrated on the question whether corporate power can be a force for good (defined as the interlinked aims of human rights and sustainable development) and under what conditions? Five different angles are covered in the booklet: Power of Science, Power of Retail, Power of the NGO, Power of the Producer and Power of the Diplomat. Key note speeches by Jan Pronk, George Yip and many others.
'With great power, comes great responsibility'. This is the motto of the struggling hero Spiderman. The continuous struggle of Spiderman with grasping his powers as well as linking this to his responsibilities not only provides an exiting sequel, but also a strong metaphor for the struggle of big corporations around the world when confronted with the challenges of fair trade. Society contains immense power asymmetries, but does that also imply power abuse and unfairness?
The fourth Max Havelaar lecture concentrated on the question whether corporate power can be a force for good (defined as the interlinked aims of human rights and sustainable development) and under what conditions? We will have five different angles on stage: Power of Science, Power of Retail, Power of the NGO, Power of the Producer and Power of the Diplomat (Jan Pronk).


BACKGROUND
Acute consumption of fat-free fluid milk after resistance exercise promotes a greater positive protein balance than does soy protein.

OBJECTIVE
We aimed to determine the long-term consequences of milk or soy protein or equivalent energy consumption on training-induced lean mass accretion.

DESIGN
We recruited 56 healthy young men who trained 5 d/wk for 12 wk on a rotating split-body resistance exercise program in a parallel 3-group longitudinal design. Subjects were randomly assigned to consume drinks immediately and again 1 h after exercise: fat-free milk (Milk; n = 18); fat-free soy protein (Soy; n = 19) that was isoenergetic, isonitrogenous, and macronutrient ratio matched to Milk; or maltodextrin that was isoenergetic with Milk and Soy (control group; n = 19).

RESULTS
Muscle fiber size, maximal strength, and body composition by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) were measured before and after training. No between-group differences were seen in strength. Type II muscle fiber area increased in all groups with training, but with greater increases in the Milk group than in both the Soy and control groups (P < 0.05). Type I muscle fiber area increased after training only in the Milk and Soy groups, with the increase in the Milk group being greater than that in the control group (P < 0.05). DXA-measured fat- and bone-free mass increased in all groups, with a greater increase in the Milk group than in both the Soy and control groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION
We conclude that chronic postexercise consumption of milk promotes greater hypertrophy during the early stages of resistance training in novice weightlifters when compared with isoenergetic soy or carbohydrate consumption.


The timed position of documents retrieved by learning to rank models can be seen as signals. Signals carry useful information such as drop or rise of documents over time or user behaviors. In this work, we propose to use the logic formalism called Signal Temporal Logic (STL) to characterize document behaviors in ranking accordingly to the specified formulas. Our analysis shows that interesting document behaviors can be easily formalized and detected thanks to STL formulas. We validate our idea on a dataset of 100K product signals. Through the presented framework, we uncover interesting patterns, such as cold start, warm start, spikes, and inspect how they affect our learning to ranks models.


Disposal of computers, mobile phones and its accessories in developing countries including Kenya adds to the waste management problem. The study was carried out from September 2009 to March 2010. The aim of this study was to quantify e-waste generated by the institutions, to identify the methods currently employed in the management and disposal of ewaste by the selected institutions, to evaluate current e-waste management policies and strategies implemented and recommend strategies that may be used to improve the management of the e-wastes by the institutions. The respondents were drawn from the major potential e-waste generators in the city including: medium to large scale computer and mobile phone importers and assemblers, end users of computers and its accessories, formal e-waste recyclers and key ICT and e-waste management institutions such as the CCK and NEMA provided key information. The researcher administered questionnaires to key informants, used observation record sheets, and secondary data from relevant institutions as the main sources of information. Analysis of data focused on generating-waste flow stream, quantifying the amount of e-waste generated and evaluating national and institution policies on e-waste management. T-test was used to quantify the amount of e-waste generated by the stakeholders. The results showed the tonnage of mobile phones and computers that remained undistributed by importers was statistically significant at 95% confidence level (t= 6.52, df = 2; p= 0.00456) and (t =-0.63294, df = 2; p=0.0322), respectively. In the category of end users the tonnage of e-waste generated was insignificant at (t=8.4, df = 2; p>3.l8) for universities and (t=7.97, df = 2; p>3.18) for ministries. This could be attributed to the long period of possession of equipment by end users. Analysis of the results further showed that tonnage of e-waste generated by recyclers was statistically significant at 95% confidence level (t=-13.82, df = 2; p=0.00089). Further analysis of the ewaste flow stream from the importer to recycler has showed that significant amount of e-waste is being generated importers in comparison to other stakeholders. This means that a high percentage of equipment brought into the country by importers is potential e-waste due to the high amount of electronic equipment that remains undistributed and this poses a great threat to the environment. The methods employed for disposing e-waste included dropping off old IT technology at garbage collection point, storing in offices room, selling scrap, donation and re-use, selling to staff, friends, family or public, take back schemes and extended producer responsibility. The implication of these methods used is that e-waste generation is likely to increase downstream as a result of channeling ewaste to end users and recyclers. Approximately 75% of the stakeholders in the study lacked a policy on e-waste management and only 36.1 % planned to have a policy in place. While the Government has recognized the challenges posed by-waste, the level of preparedness in terms of policies and legislation is low. The study recommends that specific policies and regulations on e-waste be developed. These should govern e-waste from collection to final disposal, and licensing of key actors. A national collection system needs to be developed, and consumer awareness enhanced. Capacity building programmes should be launched in the sector, possibly funded by fees levied on importers of second-hand equipment.


Inference on time series data is a common requirement in many scientific disciplines and internet of things (IoT) applications, yet there are few resources available to domain scientists to easily, robustly, and repeatably build such complex inference workflows: traditional statistical models of time series are often too rigid to explain complex time domain behavior, while popular machine learning packages require already-featurized dataset inputs. Moreover, the software engineering tasks required to instantiate the computational platform are daunting. cesium is an end-to-end time series analysis framework, consisting of a Python library as well as a web front-end interface, that allows researchers to featurize raw data and apply modern machine learning techniques in a simple, reproducible, and extensible way. Users can apply out-of-the-box feature engineering workflows as well as save and replay their own analyses. Any steps taken in the front end can also be exported to a Jupyter notebook, so users can iterate between possible models within the front end and then fine-tune their analysis using the additional capabilities of the back-end library. The open-source packages make us of many use modern Python toolkits, including xarray, dask, Celery, Flask, and scikit-learn.