What can we know of the private lives of early British sovereigns? Through the unusually large number of letters that survive from King James VI of Scotland/James I of England (1566-1625), we can know a great deal. Using original letters, primarily from the British Library and the National Library of Scotland, David Bergeron creatively argues that James' correspondence with certain men in his court constitutes a gospel of homoerotic desire. Bergeron grounds his provocative study on an examination of the tradition of letter writing during the Renaissance and draws a connection between homosexual desire and letter writing during that historical period. King James, commissioner of the Bible translation that bears his name, corresponded with three principal male favourites - Esme Stuart (Lennox), Robert Carr (Somerset) and George Villiers (Buckingham). Esme Stuart, James' older French cousin, arrived in Scotland in 1579 and became an intimate adviser and friend to the adolescent king. Though Esme was eventually forced into exile by Scottish nobles, his letters to James survive, as does James' hauntingly allegorical poem "Phoenix". The king's close relationship with Carr began in 1607. James' letters to an imprisoned Carr reveal remarkable outbursts of sexual frustration and passion. A large collection of letters exchanged between James and Buckingham in the 1620s provides the clearest evidence for James' homoerotic desires. During a protracted separation in 1623, letters between the two raced back and forth. These artful, self-conscious letters explore themes of absence, the pleasure of letters, and a preoccupation with the body. Familial and sexual terms become wonderfully intertwined, as when James greets Buckingham as "my sweet child and wife". "King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire" presents a modern-spelling edition of 75 letters exchanged between Buckingham and James. Across the centuries, commentators have condemned the letters as indecent or respulsive. Bergeron argues that on the contrary they reveal an inward desire of king and subject in a mutual exchange of love.


Heterogeneity in terms of tumor characteristics, prognosis, and survival among cancer patients has been a persistent problem for many decades. Currently, prognosis and outcome predictions are made based on clinical factors and/or by incorporating molecular profiling data. However, inaccurate prognosis and prediction may result by using only clinical or molecular information directly. One of the main shortcomings of past studies is the failure to incorporate prior biological information into the predictive model, given strong evidence of the pathway-based genetic nature of cancer, i.e., the potential for oncogenes to be grouped into pathways based on biological functions such as cell survival, proliferation, and metastatic dissemination. To address this problem, we propose a two-stage approach to incorporate pathway information into the prognostic modeling using large-scale gene expression data. In the first stage, we fit all predictors within each pathway using the penalized Cox model and Bayesian hierarchical Cox model. In the second stage, we combine the cross-validated prognostic scores of all pathways obtained in the first stage as new predictors to build an integrated prognostic model for prediction. We apply the proposed method to analyze two independent breast and ovarian cancer datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), predicting overall survival using large-scale gene expression profiling data. The results from both datasets show that the proposed approach not only improves survival prediction compared with the alternative analyses that ignore the pathway information, but also identifies significant biological pathways.


In the 16th Century, ladies and gentlemen of noble birth were taught from an early age the art of dancing, necessary to survive in the hierarchical world of the court. A Neo-Platonic perspective on dancing was at the core of Renaissance thinking (Humanism) and persisted throughout the 17th Century. In dance circles the principles of harmony and order in the cosmos, harking back to the classical world of Plato and Quintilian, were already well established in Italy by the end of the 15th Century. The balli were structures consisting of many different rhythmic sections throughout which a playful narrative of love, courtship and drama unfolded. By the second half of the 16th Century, two notable dancing masters, Fabritio Caroso and Cesare Negri, were beginning to record their teaching and advice in manuals, which serve as the first known comprehensive and detailed treatises on court dance. By the late 16th Century, the balletto still involved the theatricality of narrative and contrasting or varying emotions. It was still a performance or game for the spectators as well as for the dancers themselves, despite being performed in a social context. In this article, we take a closer look at two  balli presented by Caroso: Ardente Sole and Laura Soave , showing that their structure was inspired by rhetorical principles.


This report is a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of a fuel cell and a gas engine. It includes emission release over a lifetime, and recommendations to which system to install in operating vessels today. IMO and MARPOL are the main regulators of emission at sea. An increased focus on the marine environment has provided new regulations to limit the impact from ships. Emission to sea has lately been given much attention; dangerous substances have been trapped in local food chains and disturbed the eco-systems. It is assumed that regulations today are to be followed up by stricter limits in the future. Both the fuel cell and the gas engine are solutions which reduce emission to air. The results of the study show a large impact from fuel cell materials. This is mainly harmful to the various ecosystems, and the marine ecosystem is the largest impact category. The fuel cell is a more efficient solution with lower fuel consumption. Because of the electrolyte reaction, there is no combustion process. This gives low CO2 and NOx emissions and approximately zero SOx and PM emissions. This result in a 30% global warming potential reduction compared to the gas engine. Evaluating the results we found the gas engine to be the best solution at the moment. This is based on an overall evaluation of the environmental impact. In addition to this, the capital cost is low. Fuel cell technology is not developed enough to meet today's standards. To be able to install a fuel cell delivering energy supply to a whole ship, the volume per kW output has to decrease and the lifetime has to be increased. Increased lifetime does not only reduce the environmental impact, it reduces the capital cost as well. The fuel cell has better operational qualities, especially when it comes to global warming impact. In the future the use of fuel cells can be an important tool to reduce the CO2 emission and other emissions to air.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this article is to evaluate the positive predictive value (PPV) and interobserver variability of preoperative staging sonography for thyroid carcinoma.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS
Eighty-five patients (median age, 45 years) were included. The T and N staging were classified according to TNM classification. Extrathyroidal extension was defined as contact with the capsule greater than 25% of the perimeter of a malignant lesion or loss of the capsule line. The sonography criteria for lymph node metastases were absence of echogenic fatty hilum, round shape, hyperechogenicity, microcalcifications, cystic change, and peripheral vascularity. The PPV and interobserver variability of two radiologists were calculated.

RESULTS
The mean size of 85 malignancies was 8.6 mm, with 17 that were larger than 10 mm and 68 that were 10 mm or smaller. PPV ranges of sonography by two radiologists were 65-100% for T staging, 44.4-45.5% for multifocality, 71.4-81.8% for bilaterality, 28.6-80% for N1a staging, and 40-100% for N1b staging. In all malignancies, the kappa values were 0.5319 for T staging, 0.7741 for multifocality, 0.8604 for bilaterality, and 0.6793 for N staging. In 17 malignancies larger than 10 mm, the corresponding kappa values were lower (κ = 0.4516, 0.5952, 0.8211, and 0.6364, respectively). In 68 malignancies 10 mm or smaller, the corresponding kappa values showed slight improvements, except for T staging (κ = 0.5016, 0.8413, 0.8721, and 0.6821, respectively).

CONCLUSION
The T staging, bilaterality, and N1b staging of preoperative staging sonography showed high PPV. Agreements for T and N staging, multifocality, and bilaterality were moderate, substantial, substantial, and excellent, respectively.


Young children are often highly motivated by design and technological tasks and very often the motivation springs from their desire to achieve a particular purpose - to design and make a house for their teddy, a hideaway for themselves and their friends, something to keep special treasures in. This purpose is often related directly to a particular client. However, there are other driving forces that keep a child engaged in activity. This paper explores the interaction between the different motivational and other factors that lie behind the development of design and technology projects in schools, focusing on younger children.

The purpose of the paper is twofold. First, it aims to explore the nature and importance of clients in d&t activity. Second it aims to tease out some critical dimensions in supporting children to take ownership of tasks and engage with them to the point that their own development is maximised.


In this paper, we deal with the task of sub-event detection in evolving events using posts collected from the Twitter stream. By representing a sequence of successive tweets in a short time interval as a weighted graph-of-words, we are able to identify the key moments (sub-events) that compose an event using the concept of graph degeneracy. We then select a tweet to best describe each sub-event using a simple yet effective heuristic. We evaluated our approach using humangenerated summaries containing the actual important sub-events within each event and compare it to two baseline approaches using several performance metrics such as DET curves and precision/recall performance. Extensive experiments on recent sporting event streams indicate that our approach outperforms the dominant sub-event detection methods and constructs a humanreadable event summary by aggregating the most representative tweets of each sub-event.


The impact of the earthquake of 2010 was aggravated by the precarious housindg of the vulnerable Haitian population. Although disaster risk reduction and building sector regulations are today national priorities, Haiti lacks adequate training entities. The Rustic Superior foundation is experienced in training young Haitians to become construction workers with an essential extra skill: how to integrate seismic and anti-hurricane standards into their constructions. Haiti is now an increasingly connected country with 3G available nationwide: a large majority of the population owns a cellphone or internet devices. Thus, Rustic Superior decided to launch a new concept in the construction sector: Digital Norms by Assimilation DNA (Apprentissage par dispositif numerique ADN). The DNA approach will be the 1st entirely on-line vocational training scheme in Haiti. First applied to the construction sector, DNA can be replicated to other priority areas such as tourism or DDR, and also to larger geographical areas.


Acanthamoeba are ubiquitous protists that play an environmental role in regulating microbial diversity; they also occasionally cause infections of the eye (Acanthamoeba keratitis) and brain (granulomatous amoebic encephalitis). These organisms exhibit two distinct phenotypes. The trophozoite form dominates in favorable conditions, in which the Acanthamoeba move through the extension of pseudopodia, engulfing microbes and other particles. During stressful conditions, the Acanthamoeba undergo a process of encystment, in which they build a double cell wall and become relatively inactive. The cyst form can survive years until more favorable conditions arise, at which point they may excyst. For this study, multiple laboratory encystment methods were compared to determine the percent encystment and the different viabilities of laboratory-produced cysts. Furthermore, four different encystment genes were targeted for development of a primer library for reverse-transcription, polymerase chain reaction expression studies. The library was developed using sequences accessed from various databases, including NCBI and EMBL; primers were screened through polymerase chain reaction, and those primers producing positive results were used to further screen cellular RNA that was extracted from encysting cells over various time points during the encystment process, and using various encystment media. Using these methods, target gene involvement in the encystment process was compared between species and encystment methods. These studies lay the foundation for quantitative gene expression analysis, and provide the basis for comparison of various encystment methods. INDEX WORDS: Acanthamoeba, Acanthamoeba keratitis, Contact lens solutions, Cysts, Encystment, RT-PCR, Trophozoites ENCYSTMENT OF ACANTHAMOEBA AND EVALUATING THE BIO-BUS PROGRAM


Detecting if two or multiple devices are moved together is an interesting problem for different applications. However, these devices may be aligned arbitrarily with regards to each other, and the three dimensions sampled by their respective local accelerometers can therefore not be directly compared. The typical approach is to ignore all angular components and only compare overall acceleration magnitudes --- with the obvious disadvantage of discarding potentially useful information. In this paper, we contribute a method to analytically determine relative spatial alignment of two devices based on their acceleration time series. Our method uses quaternions to compute the optimal rotation with regards to minimizing the mean squared error. The implication is that the reference system of one device can be (locally and independently) aligned with the other, and thus that all three dimensions can consequently be compared for more accurate classification. Based on real-world experimental data from smart phones and smart watches shaken together, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our method with a magnitude squared coherence metric, for which we show an improved EER of 0.16 (when using derotation) over an EER of 0.18 (when not using derotation).


This book discusses all critical privacy and data protection aspects of biometric systems from a legal perspective. It contains a systematic and complete analysis of the many issues raised by these systems based on examples worldwide and provides several recommendations for a transnational regulatory framework. An appropriate legal framework is in most countries not yet in place. Biometric systems use facial images, fingerprints, iris and/or voice in an automated way to identify or to verify (identity) claims of persons. The treatise which has an interdisciplinary approach starts with explaining the functioning of biometric systems in general terms for non-specialists. It continues with a description of the legal nature of biometric data and makes a comparison with DNA and biological material and the regulation thereof. After describing the risks, the work further reviews the opinions of data protection authorities in relation to biometric systems and current and future (EU) law. A detailed legal comparative analysis is made of the situation in Belgium, France and the Netherlands. The author concludes with an evaluation of the proportionality principle and the application of data protection law to biometric data processing operations, mainly in the private sector. Pleading for more safeguards in legislation, the author makes several suggestions for a regulatory framework aiming at reducing the risks of biometric systems. They include limitations to the collection and storage of biometric data as well as technical measures, which could influence the proportionality of the processing. The text is supported by several figures and tables providing a summary of particular points of the discussion. The book also uses the 2012 biometric vocabulary adopted by ISO and contains an extensive bibliography and literature sources.


This paper estimates the effects of early interventions in the Swedish sickness insurance system. The aim of the interventions is to screen and, further to, rehabilitate sick listed individuals. We find that the early interventions – in contrast to what is expected – increase the inflow into disability benefits by around 20 percent. In order to explain the results, we develop a simple theoretical model based on asymmetric information of the health status. The model predicts that the treatment effect is larger for individuals with low incentives to return to work. In order to test this prediction we estimate effects for sick listed employed and unemployed separately. Consistent with the model's prediction, we find that the effect is larger for the unemployed than for the employed.


In web search, relevance ranking of popular pages is relatively easy, because of the inclusion of strong signals such as anchor text and search log data. In contrast, with less popular pages, relevance ranking becomes very challenging due to a lack of information. In this paper the former is referred to as head pages, and the latter tail pages. We address the challenge by learning a model that can extract search-focused key n-grams from web pages, and using the key n-grams for searches of the pages, particularly, the tail pages. To the best of our knowledge, this problem has not been previously studied. Our approach has four characteristics. First, key n-grams are search-focused in the sense that they are defined as those which can compose "good queries" for searching the page. Second, key n-grams are learned in a relative sense using learning to rank techniques. Third, key n-grams are learned using search log data, such that the characteristics of key n-grams in the search log data, particularly in the heads; can be applied to the other data, particularly to the tails. Fourth, the extracted key n-grams are used as features of the relevance ranking model also trained with learning to rank techniques. Experiments validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach with large-scale web search datasets. The results show that our approach can significantly improve relevance ranking performance on both heads and tails; and particularly tails, compared with baseline approaches. Characteristics of our approach have also been fully investigated through comprehensive experiments.


The hallmark of diabetes is high blood sugars, but diabetes is not just a disorder of high blood sugars. It is also a disorder of increased blood sodium which results in increased intravascular volume that over time can result in heart failure and eventually death. The aim of this paper is to review the mechanisms of how the hyperglycemic diabetic state drives the naturemic effects of diabetes and increases the risk of heart failure and death in diabetes. This increased naturemic effect is driven by increased sodium glucose transporter (SGLT), sodium proton exchanger 3 (NHE3), intrarenal renin angiotensin (iRAS) and renal sympathetic system (RSS) activity as illustrated in figure1. In summary, hyperglycemia results in pathologic kidney function changes with an increase in intravascular volume and neurohormonal activity, which leads to increased work and stress on the heart. SGLT inhibition will partially block and reverse these defects allowing the pathologic kidney function in diabetes to move back to more normal physiologic function.


We employ a common agency model to examine how green lobbies affect the determination of trade and environmental policy in two large countries that are linked through trade flows and transboundary pollution. We show that, when governments are not restricted in their ability to use trade barriers, environmental lobbying always results in higher pollution taxes relative to a no-lobbying scenario. Consequently, uncoordinated environmental policies are closer to the efficient Pigouvian solution than internationally coordinated policies. If, however, governments are bound by international trade rules, green lobbies may bias environmental policies downwards and environmental policy coordination is unambiguously efficiency-enhancing.


This project was commissioned by the Round Table on Women's Issues (RTWI) at the 66th IFLA conference. The Round Table on Women's Issues is a sub-division of IFLA which concerns itself extensively with questions and issues that have special relevance for women in the library profession and in the user community. Further it develops programmes designed to enhance the opportunities and the image of these two groups of women. The Round Table on Women's Issues promotes the collection, research, publication and dissemination of information on the status of women in librarianship. Another concern is to identify discrimination in all forms, and disparities in resources, programmes, and opportunities relating to women in librarianship. At the 66th Conference, members of the Round Table discussed the Association of Research Libraries' Annual Salary Survey, 1999-2000 and noted that the average salary for female directors (USD 132,000) in United States university libraries was slightly higher than the average salary of male directors (USD 125,000) (pp. 16-18). There is now the highest number of women in top administrative positions than there has been before: 54 women out of a total of 111 directorships. This was of course the good news.The bad news was that the overall salary for women in research and academic libraries in the USA was still only 94 percent that of men. During the 19 years that statistics have been gathered women have been gradually closing the earnings gap, as in 1980 they earned only 87 percent, but it is a slow process. Overall, men represent only 35 percent of the workforce among professional librarians. The Round Table felt it would be interesting to discover how this compared with salaries in other countries and other sectors. This could form the basis for some comparative statistics if other members of the group could follow up. Although aware that delegates at IFLA conferences were not representative of the profession as a whole, it was felt that it might be possible to conduct a 'snapshot' project of delegates, women officers and committee members at IFLA's 67th conference to ascertain the status of women librarians internationally. Sandra Parker and Pat Gannon-Leary from the Information Management Research Institute, University of Northumbria School of Information Studies, obtained an IFLA small grant to undertake this work and to report on findings at the 68th IFLA conference.


The article contains the aggregated results of the development and optimization of laboratory installation for ablative fast pyrolysis performance with productivity 1–4 kg/hour on final products. The experimental data on a series of experiments (>60) with analysis of the influence of a certain range of input parameters on the bio-oil yield and qualitative parameters of output products is presented. The optimization of installation regimes and input parameters for bio-oil yield maximization for different biomass types is performed. It was found that the ratio of three output products is not always optimal maximizing bio-oil yield with respect to energy yield in the products. The maximum achieved bio-oil yield is 51%, with the average level of 44% (by mass rated to the input products). It is revealed that the final bio-oil yield depends mainly on temperature in the reactor, time of biomass particles existence in the reactor, and biomass fraction. The mass distribution for pyrolysis by-products (pyrogas and biochar) is dependent on the initial moisture content of biomass and organization of the condensation process of bio-oil. The energy balance of installation demonstrates the average efficiency of the pyrolysis process on the level of 65% (with maximum 98%) and could be increased to 90% average with a simple reconstruction of installation. On the basis of obtained laboratory data, the scaling of the installation was performed with the development of a commercial prototype with the productivity of 50 kg/hour. On the basis of obtained technical data, the assessment of economic indicators of bio-oil and biochar production with large sized mobile installation has been performed demonstrating a good commercial feasibility of the installation performance.


The setting of quantitative, time-limited ?targets? backed up by institutional and managerial rewards and sanctions has been a notable feature of performance improvement efforts in the National Health Service (NHS) in England since 1998 and especially in the period 2000-2004. Performance improved in the areas covered by English NHS targets, most markedly in relation to waiting times, but also in relation to treatment outcomes. None of the other parts of the United Kingdom followed England and similar trends were not observed, particularly not in waiting times, despite similar injections of funds. Despite the improvements in performance in target areas, targets were criticised, principally, for having perverse and unintended consequences (e.g. distorting priorities, encouraging ?gaming?, etc) which could have potentially out-weighed their benefits. On the other hand most experts in performance improvement in public services argue that carefully chosen, incentivised targets are a useful part of the performance management repertoire when used well (e.g. when sanctions and rewards are proportionate). Some dysfunctional consequences are to be expected, but can be mitigated. Given the similarities between the English NHS and the New Zealand public health system, there is scope to use targets and related incentives sparingly to improve performance in New Zealand in areas of high importance to government and the public.


This work is concerned with the non-negative rank-1 robust principal component analysis (RPCA), where the goal is to recover the dominant non-negative principal components of a data matrix precisely, where a number of measurements could be grossly corrupted with sparse and arbitrary large noise. Most of the known techniques for solving the RPCA rely on convex relaxation methods by lifting the problem to a higher dimension, which significantly increase the number of variables. As an alternative, the well-known Burer-Monteiro approach can be used to cast the RPCA as a non-convex and non-smooth $\ell_1$ optimization problem with a significantly smaller number of variables. In this work, we show that the low-dimensional formulation of the symmetric and asymmetric positive rank-1 RPCA based on the Burer-Monteiro approach has benign landscape, i.e., 1) it does not have any spurious local solution, 2) has a unique global solution, and 3) its unique global solution coincides with the true components. An implication of this result is that simple local search algorithms are guaranteed to achieve a zero global optimality gap when directly applied to the low-dimensional formulation. Furthermore, we provide strong deterministic and probabilistic guarantees for the exact recovery of the true principal components. In particular, it is shown that a constant fraction of the measurements could be grossly corrupted and yet they would not create any spurious local solution.


Collaboration and integration make for a care model that saves money and improves medication management and quality of care. Medication Management, LLC, is a nontraditional pharmacy practice that integrates clinical pharmacists into physician practices. Its clinical pharmacists provide direct patient care, and there are none of the drug-dispensing functions typical with most pharmacies. The physician refers patients to the clinical pharmacist, who carries out office visits, as would a physician, nurse practitioner, or physician's assistant. This model of care has demonstrated costs savings, improvement in quality of care, and higher patient satisfaction. A Classic Chronic Disease Patient To illustrate this model, consider the example of a full-time clinical pharmacist in Greensboro, North Carolina, who has been assigned by Medication Management, LLC, to Greensboro Medical Associates, a large practice including specialists in internal medicine, endocrinology, cardiology, and rheumatology. The practice focus areas for the clinical pharmacist are diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, anticoagulation therapy, and general drug therapy consultations for patients taking multiple medications. Doris is an eighty-two-year-old woman who was referred by her physician to see the clinical pharmacist at Greensboro Medical Associates. She has chronic medical conditions requiring multiple medications. Specifically, her atrial fibrillation, which requires anticoagulation with warfarin, is monitored very closely, usually monthly. She arrives at her appointment in a wheelchair (which is highly unusual for her) and appears lethargic and somewhat confused. In addition to atrial fibrillation, Doris's chronic conditions include hypertension, a history of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, osteoporosis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, and anxiety. Her long-term medication regimen includes warfarin, metoprolol, hydrochlorothiazide, olmesartan, atorvastatin, diazepam, isosorbide mononitrate, digoxin, risedronate, and esomeprazole. She also takes calcium, a multivitamin, and acetaminophen. Doris recently lost her oldest daughter to breast cancer. Her family says that she has gone downhill since then. She has been eating and sleeping poorly, and falling repeatedly. She cannot ambulate without assistance because she's very unsteady on her feet. In her own attempt to handle the anxiety and insomnia related to her daughter's death, Doris decided to increase the amount of diazepam she was taking from one tablet to three tablets a day. And she sometimes takes two capsules of an over-thecounter (OTC) sleeping medication containing diphenhydramine. She reports that she gets very dizzy when standing up from a sitting or lying down position. The family is concerned that this change in Doris's condition may require them to place her in a nursing facility. A quick check of her blood pressure (first sitting, then standing) reveals a significant drop, indicating hypotension. Lab results also reveal that she is mildly dehydrated and her International Normalized Ratio (used to monitor the warfarin) is low. The family says Doris has missed several doses of warfarin because she went to sleep and forgot to take it. It is evident that Doris is suffering from a medication-induced delirium as a result of self-adjusting the diazepam dose and taking the OTC sleep medication. The combination has resulted in a cascade of problems, including dehydration, hypotension, and falls. On her current visit, the clinical pharmacist decreased the diazepam dose to once a day, discontinued the OTC sleep aid, and stopped the olmesartan because of Doris's low blood pressure. The pharmacist helped her re-establish her drug-taking routine through use of a pill reminder- organizer and a calendar. On a follow-up visit two weeks later, Doris was dramatically improved. Although still grieving, she was now ambulating. …


Visual Question Answering (VQA) methods have made incredible progress, but suffer from a failure to generalize. This is visible in the fact that they are vulnerable to learning coincidental correlations in the data rather than deeper relations between image content and ideas expressed in language. We present a dataset that takes a step towards addressing this problem in that it contains questions expressed in two languages, and an evaluation process that co-opts a well understood image-based metric to reflect the method's ability to reason. Measuring reasoning directly encourages generalization by penalizing answers that are coincidentally correct. The dataset reflects the scene-text version of the VQA problem, and the reasoning evaluation can be seen as a text-based version of a referring expression challenge. Experiments and analyses are provided that show the value of the dataset. The dataset is available at www.est-vqa.org.


Starting from the recent UNICEF publications on child poverty in the developed countries, which received a wide audience in the political and scientific world, in this paper we further analyze the UNICEF study data base and present three composite indices that are multidimensional and quantitatively measures of child well-being. While the original UNICEF studies simply added together the ranks on different measurement scales, we present a much more sophisticated approach, with the first of our indicators being a non-parametric measure while the remaining two are parametric. In the non-parametric index of child welfare, the well-being indicators are given same weights in their aggregation to form different components from which an overall index is being constructed. Two different forms of the parametric index are estimated by using principal component analysis. The first model uses a pool of all indicators without classification of the indicators by type of well-being, while the second model estimates first the sub-components separately and then uses the share of variance explained by each principal component to compute the weighted average of each component and their aggregation into an index of overall child well-being. The indices indicate which countries have the best system of child welfare and show how child well-being varies across countries and regions. The indices are composed of six well-being components: material, health and safety, educational well-being, family and peer relationships, behaviours and risks and subjective well-being. Each of the components is generated from a number of well-being sub-indicators.


Traditional sampling results assume that the sample locations are known. Motivated by simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) and structure from motion (SfM), we investigate sampling at unknown locations. Without further constraints, the problem is often hopeless. For example, we recently showed that, for polynomial and bandlimited signals, it is possible to find two signals, arbitrarily far from each other, that fit the measurements. However, we also showed that this can be overcome by adding constraints to the sample positions. In this paper, we show that these constraints lead to a uniform sampling of a composite of functions. Furthermore, the formulation retains the key aspects of the SLAM and SfM problems, whilst providing uniqueness, in many cases. We demonstrate this by studying two simple examples of constrained sampling at unknown locations. In the first, we consider sampling a periodic bandlimited signal composite with an unknown linear function. We derive the sampling requirements for uniqueness and present an algorithm that recovers both the bandlimited signal and the linear warping. Furthermore, we prove that, when the requirements for uniqueness are not met, the cases of multiple solutions have measure zero. For our second example, we consider polynomials sampled such that the sampling positions are constrained by a rational function. We previously proved that, if a specific sampling requirement is met, uniqueness is achieved. In addition, we present an alternate minimization scheme for solving the resulting non-convex optimization problem. Finally, fully reproducible simulation results are provided to support our theoretical analysis.


Inadequate law enforcement against corporate criminals appears to have created perverse incentives leading to an economic crisis — this time in the context of the subprime mortgage crisis. Prioritizing Justice proposes institutional reform at the Department of Justice (DOJ) in pursuing corporate crime. Presently, corporate crime is pursued nationally primarily through the DOJ Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force and other task forces, the DOJ Criminal Division Fraud Section, and the individual U.S. Attorneys' Offices. Rather than a collection of ad hoc task forces that seek to coordinate policy among a vast array of offices and agencies, a Corporate Crimes Division should be created as a permanent base in the DOJ to combat the relentless waves of corporate criminality. The Corporate Crimes Division would more efficiently investigate and prosecute crimes of national and multinational corporations spanning multiple districts, and pursue a coordinated national policy that affirms the commitment of the DOJ to fight large-scale corporate crime which costs taxpayers billions of dollars, frustrates financial markets, increases the cost of capital to honest businesses, and undermines citizens' confidence in the rule of law. Given the cost of corporate crime, creating the division would promote superior institutional design that should yield substantial benefit.


ABSTRACT In 2012, the U.S. EPA suggested that coastal and Great Lakes states adopt enterococci as an alternative indicator for the monitoring of recreational water quality. Limited information, however, is available about the presence and persistence of enterococci in Lake Superior. In this study, the density, species composition, and persistence of enterococci in sand, sediment, water, and soil samples were examined at two sites in a Lake Superior watershed from May to September over a 2-year period. The genetic diversity of Enterococcus faecalis isolates collected from environmental samples was also studied by using the horizontal, fluorophore-enhanced repetitive PCR DNA fingerprinting technique. Results obtained by most-probable-number analyses indicated that enterococci were present in 149 (94%) of 159 samples and their densities were generally higher in the summer than in the other months examined. The Enterococcus species composition displayed spatial and temporal changes, with the dominant species being E. hirae, E. faecalis, E. faecium, E. mundtii, and E. casseliflavus. DNA fingerprint analyses indicated that the E. faecalis population in the watershed was genetically diverse and changed spatially and temporally. Moreover, some DNA fingerprints reoccurred over multiple sampling events. Taken together, these results suggest that some enterococci are able to persist and grow in the Lake Superior watershed, especially in soil, for a prolonged time after being introduced.


THE ILLEISM OF JESUS AND YAHWEH: A STUDY OF THE USE OF THE THIRD-PERSON SELF-REFERENCE IN THE BIBLE AND ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN TEXTS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTOLOGY Ervin Roderick Elledge, Ph.D. The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2015 Chair: Dr. Robert L. Plummer This study explores the relationship between the use of the third person for self-reference by Jesus and Yahweh and suggests the potential for both divine and royal themes associated with this manner of speech. Chapter 1 highlights that this issue has received little attention in scholarship. In order to offer a thorough evaluation, the study offers a comprehensive survey of illeim in the Bible, highlighting its prominence and various rhetorical implications. Chapter 2 surveys the use of illeism in antiquity in order to address whether illeism was a common manner of speaking. Though various Greek historians refer to themselves in the third person, evidence indicates that this was a rhetorical effort sometimes used to give a sense of objectivity to their works. No evidence was found that would indicate that illeism was commonly used in direct speech. Chapter 3 surveys the Old Testament and categorizes the various uses of illeism. The study highlights the similar and prominent use by both OT kings and Yahweh. Chapter 4 explores the ANE literature for occurrences of illeism and notes the relatively prominent use among both ANE kings and preeminent pagan gods. Chapter 5 addresses the illeism of Jesus, the only person in the New Testament to use illeism in direct discourse, and finds a similar manner of use and rhetorical intention as that of Old Testament and ANE kings and that of Yahweh. In each case the illeism serves to p z p k ' unique identity and authority associated with royal and/or divine status. The study also notes the illeism of Yahweh and Jesus share the common characteristics of prominence of occurrences, a shifting between first and third person, a variety of distinct self-references, and similar rhetorical intent. Chapter 6 summarizes the study and highlights the suggestive nature of the evidence. In light of the evaluation of the use of illeism by Jesus and Yahweh, based on the similar usage among Old Testament and ANE kings, and ANE gods, as well as the analysis of the various rhetorical implications of illeism, the evidence suggests that a royal and divine theme may be associated with the third-person self-references of Yahweh and Jesus. Furthermore, in light of the parallels between the two uses, the study f p y y w y J p lf " G ."


Theory suggests that values are important in determining an individual's behaviour and preferences related to environmental issues; however robust models that attempt to describe empirical relationships have proven elusive. This paper describes a model that clarified some relationships between values and preferences for the future management of natural areas. The key element in the model was the use of a new scale, the Natural Area Value Scale (NAVS) for measuring the relative strengths of individuals' intrinsic, non-use, use and recreation values for natural areas. Also of importance was a variable that grouped people according to their common values. The data were obtained from samples of the general public, environmentalists and farmers in Australia and were analysed in a structural equation model. The model indicated the relative importance of particular value components in determining nature conservation preferences, as well as individuals' willingness to make personal sacrifices to secure these preferences for protecting natural areas. The model fit differed for the three samples: it provided a good fit for the general public sample, for which it was designed, and weaker fit for environmentalists and farmers. The work contributes to understanding of the values that underlie conservation decisions and provides a basis for further research to develop the model's explanatory power.


Although vital statistics are of paramount importance for health planning and program evaluation, few Brazilian states have vital registration systems with either sufficient coverage or agility to achieve these goals. The present analyses, based on data from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, describes time trends and the geographical distribution of infant and child health indicators, including infant mortality rates, proportionate infant mortality, low birthweight and vaccine coverage. From 1980 to 1992, marked reductions were observed for the infant mortality rate (from 39.0 to 19.3 per thousand) and in proportionate infant mortality (from 13.9% to 5.9% of all deaths). On the other hand, the prevalence of low birthweight remained stable between 8 and 10%, with a slight increase up to 1991. DPT vaccine coverage oscillated from year to year, ranging from 79 to 99%. There was close geographical correlation between the indices of low birthweight and infant mortality in the 17 health districts. The four indicators were combined into a single score for the purpose of identifying those health districts with the greater need for intervention. The southern districts, characterized by large land holdings presented the worst health indicators.


Background: Optimal patient outcomes require communication between providers in multiple professions to initiate referrals, communicate patient treatment, and coordinate care. While there is a clear need for increased understanding of the terminology, skills, and scopes of practice of professional colleagues, these tools are of limited effectiveness if there is poor interpersonal communication between team members. Multiple bodies for Interprofessional Practice and Education (IPP/IPE) identify communication skills as an integral part of education. In fact, the third competency domain set down by the Interprofessional Education Collaborative, Interprofessional Communication, states that professionals should, "Recognize how one's own uniqueness, including experience level, expertise, culture, power, and hierarchy within the healthcare team, contributes to effective communication, conflict resolution, and positive interprofessional working relationships" [1]. Methods and Findings: As part of a required interprofessional competence course, first-year students in ten health professions programs completed the Personal Coaching Style Inventory (PSCI) to self-identify personal communication styles. A series of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) analyses followed by Tukey post-hoc analyses were performed in order to identify significant differences in PSCI component scores between programs. Within groups, students discussed personal and cohort-wide findings as they impact teamwork. The majority of students identified with the Mediator style. Differences in style were also found in relation to profession, gender, and race. The activity prompted discussion of varied roles in team dynamics, and how differences in style could affect interprofessional teamwork. Conclusions: Self-awareness of personal communication styles as well as predominant styles of other health professions may enhance interprofessional communication\skills. The skill with which students approach their team roles in heterogeneous groups following graduation has the potential to increase team functionality and patient outcomes.


ABSTRACT Metabolism plays an important role in the persister phenotype, as evidenced by the number of strategies that perturb metabolism to sabotage this troublesome subpopulation. However, the absence of techniques to isolate high-purity populations of native persisters has precluded direct measurement of persister metabolism. To address this technical challenge, we studied Escherichia coli populations whose growth had been inhibited by the accumulation of the MazF toxin, which catalyzes RNA cleavage, as a model system for persistence. Using chromosomally integrated, orthogonally inducible promoters to express MazF and its antitoxin MazE, bacterial populations that were almost entirely tolerant to fluoroquinolone and β-lactam antibiotics were obtained upon MazF accumulation, and these were subjected to direct metabolic measurements. While MazF model persisters were nonreplicative, they maintained substantial oxygen and glucose consumption. Metabolomic analysis revealed accumulation of all four ribonucleotide monophosphates (NMPs). These results are consistent with a MazF-catalyzed RNA futile cycle, where the energy derived from catabolism is dissipated through continuous transcription and MazF-mediated RNA degradation. When transcription was inhibited, oxygen consumption and glucose uptake decreased, and nucleotide triphosphates (NTPs) and NTP/NMP ratios increased. Interestingly, the MazF-inhibited cells were sensitive to aminoglycosides, and this sensitivity was blocked by inhibition of transcription. Thus, in MazF model persisters, futile cycles of RNA synthesis and degradation result in both significant metabolic demands and aminoglycoside sensitivity. IMPORTANCE Metabolism plays a critical role in controlling each stage of bacterial persistence (shutdown, stasis, and reawakening). In this work, we generated an E. coli strain in which the MazE antitoxin and MazF toxin were artificially and independently inducible, and we used this strain to generate model persisters and study their metabolism. We found that even though growth of the model persisters was inhibited, they remained highly metabolically active. We further uncovered a futile cycle driven by continued transcription and MazF-mediated transcript degradation that dissipated the energy derived from carbon catabolism. Interestingly, the existence of this futile cycle acted as an Achilles' heel for MazF model persisters, rendering them vulnerable to killing by aminoglycosides. Metabolism plays a critical role in controlling each stage of bacterial persistence (shutdown, stasis, and reawakening). In this work, we generated an E. coli strain in which the MazE antitoxin and MazF toxin were artificially and independently inducible, and we used this strain to generate model persisters and study their metabolism. We found that even though growth of the model persisters was inhibited, they remained highly metabolically active. We further uncovered a futile cycle driven by continued transcription and MazF-mediated transcript degradation that dissipated the energy derived from carbon catabolism. Interestingly, the existence of this futile cycle acted as an Achilles' heel for MazF model persisters, rendering them vulnerable to killing by aminoglycosides.


Data Analysis for Continuous School Improvement, Third Edition, is a call to action. It is about inspiring schools and school districts to commit to continuous school improvement by providing a framework that will result in improving teaching for every teacher, and learning for every student, through the comprehensive use of data. It provides a new definition of improvement, away from a singular focus on compliance, toward a true commitment to excellence. This Third Edition is the culmination of over 25 years of doing the hard work in schools and districts, both nationally and internationally, to analyze, report, communicate, and use multiple measures of data for continuous school improvement. This book provides new and very specific tools, timelines, and strategies that will help schools and districts become true learning organizations.


Chondrosarcoma is a malignant tumor that produces cartilage matrix, and lesions that arise de novo are called primary. Primary chondrosarcoma is the third most common primary malignant tumor of bone, constituting 20%-27% of all primary malignant osseous neoplasms. There are numerous types of primary chondrosarcomas, including conventional intramedullary, clear cell, juxtacortical, myxoid, mesenchymal, extraskeletal, and dedifferentiated. The conventional intramedullary chondrosarcoma is the most frequent type, and it most commonly involves the long bones or pelvis in up to 65% of cases. Although the pathologic appearance varies with specific lesion type, chondrosarcomas grow with lobular type architecture, and these hyaline cartilage nodules demonstrate high water content and peripheral enchondral ossification. Imaging features directly reflect this pathologic appearance, and the various subtypes often show distinctive features. Radiographic findings often suggest the diagnosis of chondrosarcoma because of identification of typical "ring-and-arc" chondroid matrix mineralization (representing the enchondral ossification) and aggressive features of deep endosteal scalloping and soft-tissue extension. These latter features are usually best assessed, as is lesion staging, with computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. CT is optimal to detect the matrix mineralization, particularly when it is subtle or when the lesion is located in anatomically complex areas. Both CT and MR imaging depict the high water content of these lesions as low attenuation and very high signal intensity with T2-weighting, respectively. Understanding and recognizing the spectrum of appearances of the various types of primary chondrosarcoma allow improved patient assessment and are vital for optimal clinical management including diagnosis, biopsy, staging, treatment, and prognosis.


Clinical practice benchmarking is a new quality improvement benchmarking approach that involves structured learning from others in order to improve, accepting the subjective nature of health care. Evaluative research of clinical practice benchmarking requires mixed methods, quantitative and qualitative. This challenges the current reliance upon quantitative consideration of the effectiveness of quality improvement approaches. A worked quantitative example is provided and demonstrates that descriptive statistics support comparison activity only. It rejects the value of inferential statistics, since benchmark scores relate to subjective statements.
Therefore, inter-rater reliability is poor and it is not possible to directly attribute any change in clinical practice benchmark scores to actual changes in practice. Following the quantitative analysis, a qualitative research study was undertaken from
an interpretative perspective to evaluate the effectiveness of clinical practice benchmarking as a quality improvement approach. Particular emphasis was given to exploring the organisational factors that support its effectiveness. Data were gathered through semi-standardised interviews of nursing leaders of local paediatric benchmarking activity and frontline nurses, with rigour ensured through reflexivity and a critical approach to the analysis.
The main empirical contribution of this work provided new knowledge about nurses' understanding of clinical practice benchmarking. They defined it as using all evidence to agree best practice, focusing upon collaboration to support sharing, rather than competition. The findings identified the organisational factors that ensured the effectiveness of clinical practice benchmarking. The main enablers were motivation of those involved and supportive leadership, underpinned by an organisation that promotes learning and innovation.
This research provides compelling evidence that clinical practice benchmarking is an effective approach to quality improvement in health care. However, it requires acceptance of the importance of the subjective nature of health care and the necessity for qualitative approaches to evaluation. Methodological insights from this study also inform future evaluative research.


Radiological accidents can have a lasting impact on public health. Because of the increasing risk of radiological emergencies, public health agencies and first-response organizations are working to increase their capability of responding. Nuclear medicine technologists (NMTs) have expertise in certain areas, such as radiation safety, radiobiology, decontamination, and the use of radiation detection and monitoring equipment, that could be useful during the response to events that involve radiological materials. Medical staff and worker personnel in the nuclear medicine department and in other department using radioactive materials needs to increase their knowledge about how to deal safely with the equipment, early and late hazards of exposure to radiation, and how to save patients and themselves from radiation exposure or from contamination to a radioactive substance. The purpose of this study was to assess the willingness and knowledge of NMTs, medical staff and an emergency medical response team to participate in radiological emergency preparedness and response operations and to determine what radiation detection, measuring, and imaging equipment they would have access to during an event at their workplace. The study also assessed whether years of work experience or past radiological emergency preparedness training had an effect on the willingness and knowledge. A survey was sent electronically to the 500 members in the Department of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging in different medical centers, to some laboratory that use nuclear material and to the emergency department in some hospitals. 57 respond to the survey with response rate 11.4%. Survey results suggest that NMTs are having some knowledge and willing to respond to radiological emergencies, regardless of the number of years of work experience. But this knowledge needs more study and exercising. The current study concluded that the initial response to a radiological emergency may include radiation detection, population monitoring, decontamination, and dose assessment. Knowledgeable, willing, and prepared individuals will be needed to assist with a response of this nature. Public health agencies will need to coordinate with NMTs and draw on their expertise and knowledge to strengthen the community's capability of responding to a radiological or nuclear emergency. Public health agencies and first-response organizations are working to build the capacity to respond to emergencies involving radiological materials. It is important that NMTs be included in preparedness efforts. Recommendations regarding the Continuous education programs shall be designed to increase the awareness about the emergency preparedness and response to radiation accident. Increase the alertness between medical worker and staff about the radiation hazards and its safety measures that prevent these hazards. However, International organizations can provide support to other countries in the education programs. Communities must try to increase the ability of the public health system to handle radiological events of any nature.


The expansive soils of south Texas have traditionally been stabilized with lime or Portland cement. As an alternative, a class F fly ash was tried to stabilize expansive soils obtained from within or the vicinity of Kleberg County in south Texas. Three groups of soils samples were made. The first group was stabilized with 20% by dry weight of Class F fly ash, the second group with 6% lime, and the third group with 10 % Portland cement. The purpose of lime and cement stabilized samples was to have a basis of comparison for the effectiveness of fly ash stabilization. Methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of stabilization included grain size, plasticity index, unconfined compressive strength, and scanning electron microscopy. Laboratory test results showed that fly ash, lime, and cement stabilization were all effective in ameliorating the texture and plasticity of the soils by reducing the amount of clay sized particles and the plasticity index. Portland cement was more effective followed by lime and fly ash stabilization in changing the texture and plasticity of the soils


The stratification of the ecosystem in homogeneous regions is crucial for determining the spatial variation of environment variables in studies related to the carbon dynamics in the Amazonia. Based on the hypothesis that landscape heterogeneity is determined by the interaction of the different types of vegetation, relief and land use, the principal aim of this research was to present a methodological routine to generate a Landscape Unit (LU) map for the Tapajos region. The study area is localized between the latitudes 02o 24' 2" S and 04o 01' 1" S, and longitudes 55o 30' 2" W e 54o 29' 5" W, in the Para State. Boolean logic operations were applied for the integration of the thematic maps containing the information about landscape attributes. The LU map showed that despite primary forests is the dominant vegetation type in the region, around 28% of the study area suffered human intervention. The proposed routine was efficient in characterizing the landscape heterogeneity. The advantages of this method are the preservation of more representative vegetation types and the reduction of the number of sample units. This mapping is important for helping regional scale researches using from a high to a moderate spatial resolution approach (from 30 to 500 meters).

Key words: Stratification, Amazon, GIS, land use, mapping


Fifty years after Nuremberg, the international community has again decided to experiment with international war crimes tribunals. The stated purpose for the establishment of both the Yugoslav and Rwanda Tribunals by the United Nations are to "put an end" to serious crimes such as genocide and to "take effective measures to bring to justice the persons who are responsible for them." This piece argues that both assumptions are unrealistic and that such tribunals will have little or no effect on human rights violations of such enormous barbarity. In addition, this piece questions the motivations behind the formulation of the tribunals and posits that the tribunals served either to deflect responsibility or to assuage the consciences of states which were unwilling to take political and military measures to prevent or stop the Yugoslav and Rwandan genocides. The tribunals are disarticulated, if not entirely irrelevant, to the political, reconstructionist, and "peace" and "normalization" processes underway in Rwanda and the republics of the former Yugoslavia. The tribunals now orbit in space, suspended from political reality and removed from both the individual and national psyches of the victims as well as the victors in those conflicts. The failure of both tribunals will make the establishment of a permanent international criminal tribunal that much more difficult.


Flexicurity has been a core concept in the EU's employment debates as of 2006 and was codified into common principles of flexicurity in December 2007. Flexicurity remains an important part of the Europe 2020 Strategy and the flagship agenda for new skills and jobs, and is seen as an alternative for one-sided liberalisation tendencies. This study explains the development and conclusion of the EU's flexicurity concept. How did actors finally come to agree on such a complex and sensitive issue? The study first derives theoretical preconditions for the emergence of flexicurity from new governance theory and flexicurity literature and adds as an alternative explanatory theory the concept of power. The research combines the process tracing and congruence techniques to analyse the policy-making process, including elite interviews with core policy-makers and documents analyses. The study found more than 20 factors to explain for the emergence of flexicurity, suggesting that a wide variety of variables which interact in a complex web of events and actions form the basis of any flexicurity agreement. This includes the involvement of actors in developing the concept, the exchange of ideas and viewpoints, and taking an integrative and balanced approach to labour market problems and its solutions. Viewing the whole process, both elements of new governance and of the role of power contribute to explaining the emergence of the EU's flexicurity concept. The appropriateness of both new governance and political theories suggests that these theories may complement each other in explaining the flexicurity outcome.


ABSTRACT In Alzheimer�s disease, the possible correlation between abnormal deposition of proteins like hyperphosphorylated tau and beta-amyloid (A-beta), cytoskeletal alterations and the deficit in the cholinergic neurotransmission remains to be clarified. In order to investigate the possible links connecting beta-amyloid accumulation, tau-hyperphosphorylation and nicotinic receptor expression, embryonic primary hippocampal cultures were incubated with amyloidogenic peptides. A-beta [1-42], the beta-amyloid form with the highest fibrillogenic potential, was used for the experimental approach in this study. Additionally, a shorter form of the peptide, A-beta [31-34], was employed to investigate its putatively protective action against the impact of A-beta [1-42]. A-beta [1-42] caused retraction of dendrites, shrinkage of cell bodies and a decrease in the total amount of MAP2b, without affecting the total number of neurons and their viability. No impact on the tau-pho-spho-rylation sites Ser-202 (antibody AT8), Thr-231 / Ser-235 (antibody AT180), Ser-262 (antibody 12E8) and Ser-396 / Ser-404 (antibody AD2) and on the expression of the alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (alpha7-nAChR) subunit protein was found. The total number of homomeric alpha7-nAChRs and their affinity for [125-I]aplha-Bgt remained also unaltered. Upon A-beta [31-34] incubation cell bodies were swollen in the region of the apical dendrite. These morphological alterations, different from those elicited by A-beta [1-42], did not involve MAP2 expression changes. In contrast to A-beta [1-42], the shorter fragment caused a massive hyperphosphorylation of the tau-protein at Ser-202 and at Ser-396 / Ser-404. The expression of the alpha7-nAChR subunit, the total number of homomeric alpha7-nAChRs and their affinity for [125-I]alpha-Bgt were unaffected. As regards the colocalization of the receptor subunit with hyperphosphorylated tau-protein, the alpha7-nAChR subunit was present in all AT8- and AD2-positive neurons under A-beta [31-34] incubation. In conclusion, the present results show a toxic effect of A-beta [1-42] on the cytoskeletal structure at concentrations normally present in Alzheimer brains, but raise some doubts about the role of A-beta [1-42] fibrils as a direct trigger of tau-hyperphosphorylation. As regards A-beta [31-34], it can not be considered protective with regard to cell morphology. Although it prevents the A-beta [1-42]-induced retraction of dendrites, it shows own toxic properties.


Since the Nineties, postcolonial literature has become an increasingly popular specialism in academic institutions in the UK. The growing critical respect afforded to the cultural production of previously marginalised Anglophone nations is, of course, to be celebrated. However, the increasing institutionalisation within English departments of postcolonial studies ironically risks reinforcing the centrality of 'white', metropolitan English culture, and presenting the Anglophone world as peripheral and monolithic. If postcolonialism is nothing more than a means to revising canons and reading texts in departments of English, it might be viewed merely in terms of changes in the structure and constituencies of universities; but the claims of postcolonialism reach much further than curricular matters. Thus the question of changing constituencies within universities points to larger forces at work. This journal article is available in Kunapipi: https://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol28/iss1/11


We report new constraints on flavor-changing non-standard neutrino interactions from the MINOS long-baseline experiment using $\nu_{e}$ appearance candidate events from a predominantly $\nu_{\mu}$ beam. We used a statistical selection algorithm to separate $\nu_{e}$ candidates from background events, enabling an analysis of the combined MINOS neutrino and antineutrino data. We observe no deviations from standard neutrino mixing, and thus place constraints on the non-standard interaction matter effect, $\varepsilon_{e\tau}$, and phase, $(\delta_{CP}+\delta_{e\tau})$, using a thirty-bin likelihood fit.


A one-dimensional model of the atmosphere-ice-ocean column is used to study the effects of changing river runoff to the Arctic Ocean. River runoff is the largest contributor of freshwater to the Arctic and is expected to increase as the hydrological cycle accelerates due to global warming. The column model simulates the stratification of the Arctic Ocean reasonably well, capturing important features such as the fresh surface layer, the salty cold halocline, and the temperature maximum within the Atlantic Water layer. The model is run for 500 years with prescribed boundary conditions to reach steady state solutions. Increasing river runoff is found to strengthen the stratification and to produce a fresher and shallower surface mixed layer with warming (up to ∼1°C for a doubling of present-day runoff) in the Atlantic Water layer below. An important consequence is that the effect of the larger vertical temperature gradient is able to balance that of the stronger stratification and yield a close to constant vertical heat flux toward the surface. As a result, the sea ice response is small, showing only slight increase (up to ∼15 cm for a doubling of present-day runoff) in annual mean ice thickness. Limitations of the study include the idealized nature of the column model and uncertainties in the background vertical mixing within the Arctic Ocean.


In recently published data, the predictive value of primary tumour location for the treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer with available biologic therapies has been explored. Recognizing the potential effect of those data on clinical practice, we convened a meeting of Canadian experts who treat metastatic colorectal cancer to develop a set of national, evidence-based treatment guidelines based on primary tumour location. This report summarizes the relevant evidence and presents the consensus recommendations of those experts.


This article highlights the issues and problems that carers must face when looking after someone with a dementia related illness. Many carers become seriously depressed, isolated or even marginalised and the demands of the caring role can cause many physical, mental and emotional health problems that if not addressed can lead to complete mental breakdown and ultimately 'burnout'. The key to surviving as a carer is in developing an understanding of the nature of dementia, together with a realistic attitude to the never ending workload and then to adopt effective coping strategies. This involves accessing and accepting help from many sources; these include cognitive behaviour therapy, complementary practitioners, joining a support group, maximising income and developing a healthy lifestyle. A number of practical suggestions are made that will help a carer maintain physical and mental well-being; some simple tried and tested pleasurable activities are also recommended. The ultimate key to survival is maintaining a sense of humour.
Although written primarily for carers, this article will also be of interest to healthcare professionals involved in dementia care. A comprehensive list of relevant addresses and telephone numbers is included.


ABSTRACT Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs) increasingly provide educational opportunities for underrepresented groups such as Latinx students; however, their categorization as minority-serving institutions is a function of their enrollment data rather than an explicit commitment to serving specific cultural needs. The authors of this study add to the literature on HSIs by further recognizing the need for community colleges to delve further into the different experiences of Latino males based on the intersection of race and gender. This study as part of the Texas Education Consortium for Male Students of Color explored how HSI community college might express a commitment to serving Latino males through the design and implementation of programming. The authors utilized a framework including concepts of HSI organizational identity, norms of racism in higher education, and gendered racism to conceptualize a Latino male-serving organizational identity. Findings revealed that colleges should go beyond Latino male outcomes to create a culture of commitment embedded throughout the college and not just isolated to men of color programming. This research has implications for the significant role that HSI community colleges can take in becoming leaders in serving Latino males through a purposeful and intentional commitment.


Introduction: Several active ingredients have been used for hair cosmetics, such as proteins, vitamins, plant extracts and mainly silicones, due to its low cost and easy application. Thus, the use of silicone promotes a superficial treatment of the fiber. This way, vegetable oils have been explored as an alternative to be applied in more effective hair care cosmetic products. The Brazil nut oil, composed of polyunsaturated fatty acids, proteins, minerals and complex B vitamins, presents potential to act in the hydration, nutrition and strengthening the hair fiber. Olive oil consists of monounsaturated fatty acids, triglycerides, tocopherol, carotenoids and squalene, presenting antioxidant activity and, potential to hydrate and prevent hair damage. The aim of this study was to evaluate comparatively the efficacy of hair care formulations containing Brazilian nut, olive oil or silicone - cyclomethicone .
Methods: It was developed three hair care formulations, a shampoo, a conditioner and a leave in. To the efficacy evaluation test, brown virgin hair tresses (without any type of treatment) were obtained and divided in 4 groups, a control (without application of formulations), tresses with application of the formulations containing silicone, olive oil or Brazil nut oil. The tresses were submitted to hair strength and combability test in the equipment Texturometer TAXT Plus® and shine analysis using Skin Glossymeter GL200®.
Results: The results showed that the tresses with application of olive oil and Brazil nut oil presented an increase of break force, reduction in the combing force and increase of shine, when compared to the silicone formulation. This result suggests that the silicone promotes a superficial treatment of the hair fiber. Thus, vegetable oils can be considered a good alternative for the treatment of hair damage as it promotes an improvement of hair conditions.
Conclusion: The developed formulations added with the vegetable oil were effective in the improvement of hair cuticles, increasing the hair softness, hydration and its strength, which was not observed for the formulation with silicone. This way, the vegetable oils can be a good choice to application in the development of hair care cosmetic formulations, in order to improve of hair gloss and softness as well increase the hair resistance to breakage.


To be effective in many HCI uses, a computational cognitive model must behave like a human, not simply get the job done with the least effort or in the least time. Building computational models that emulate human behavior on complex tasks is an ambitious undertaking, as they must include perception and motor behavior as well as problem-solving, learning and large amounts of knowledge. This project demonstrates that building a complex model of perception, cognition and motor behavior can be accomplished by re-using architectures and models of component capabilities built for other tasks. It also demonstrates how emergent properties of such a complex model can reveal important insights for cognitive science.


Previous work has documented the ability of the P atom to form a direct attractive noncovalent interaction with a N atom, based in large measure on the charge transfer from the N lone pair into the σ* antibonding orbital of the P-H that is turned away from the N atom. The present work considers whether other atoms, namely, O and S, can also participate as electron donors, and in which bonding environments. Also considered are the π-systems of multiply bonded C atoms. Unlike an earlier observation that the interaction is unaffected by the nature of the electron-acceptor atom, there is strong sensitivity to the donor. The P···D binding energy diminishes in the order D = NH(3) > H(2)CO > H(2)CS > H(2)O > H(2)S, different from the patterns observed in both H and halogen bonds. The P···D interactions are comparable to, and in some cases stronger than, the analogous H-bonds formed by HOH as proton donor. The carbon π systems form surprisingly strong P···D complexes, augmented by the back-donation from the P lone pair to the C-C π* antibond, which surpass the strengths of H-bonds, even some with HF as proton donor.


The study of controlled plasma discharges in supersonic air has become an area of increasing interest. These discharges may be used for flow control, drag reduction, combustion initiation and stabilization, as well as for power extraction and plasma shielding applications. In order to study the formation of such discharges and their impact on the flow, proper testing facilities are required. This paper details the work done in the design, construction, and testing of a supersonic plasma wind tunnel.


Circular, double-stranded DNA molecules were injected into nuclei of mouse oocytes and one- or two-cell embryos to determine whether specific sequences were required to replicate DNA during mouse development. Although all of the injected DNAs were stable, replication of plasmid pML-1 DNA was not detected unless it contained either polyomavirus (PyV) or simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA sequences. Replication occurred in embryos, but not in oocytes. PyV DNA, either alone or recombined with pML-1, underwent multiple rounds of replication to produce superhelical and relaxed circular monomers after injection into one- or two-cell embryos. SV40 DNA also replicated, but only 3% as well as PyV DNA. Coinjection of PyV DNA with either pML-1 or SV40 had no effect on the replicating properties of the three DNAs. These results are consistent with a requirement for specific cis-acting sequences to replicate DNA in mammalian embryos, in contrast to sequence-independent replication of DNA injected into Xenopus eggs. Furthermore, PyV DNA replication in mouse embryos required PyV large T-antigen and either the alpha-beta-core or beta-core configuration of the PyV origin of replication. Although the alpha-core configuration replicated in differentiated mouse cells, it failed to replicate in mouse embryos, demonstrating cell-specific activation of an origin of replication. Replication or expression of PyV DNA interfered with normal embryonic development. These results reveal that mouse embryos are permissive for PyV DNA replication, in contrast to the absence of PyV DNA replication and gene expression in mouse embryonal carcinoma cells.


Aquatic organisms under culture conditions are faced with an assortment of potential stressors that challenge the homeostatic state. The stress and immune responses of ranched southern bluefin tuna (SBT), Thunnus maccoyii were investigated. Quota restrictions by the CCSBT progressively had reduced Australia's allocation of the SBT global TAC to 5,265 tonnes per annum for the period 1989 to 2009. In response to quota reductions, SBT ranching developed as a capture-based aquaculture operation dependent on wild sourced stock. Other capture-based aquaculture operations exist in Japan and Mexico for Pacific bluefin tuna (PBT), Thunnus orientalis, and in numerous Mediterranean countries for Atlantic bluefin tuna (ABT), Thunnus thynnus. Overseas operations initially used traditional catch methods, like set net traps and line hooking, to source wild bluefin, but in the mid 1990s adopted the SBT model of purse seine capture and tow cage transport to grow-out sites. SBT capture/transport mortalities (0.5% down to 0.08% in recent years) compared favourably to overseas experience (ABT up to 2%, PBT 1 to 3%) as did initial total grow-out mortalities (2 to 5% for SBT, 3 to 5% for ABT, 6% for PBT). Increasing SBT mortalities in the mid 2000s, with an annual spike from 6 to 11 weeks after transfer, have been attributed to the aporocotylid parasites Cardicola forsteri and C.orientalis.
Following an analysis of industry tow practices, suggested optimal parameters for SBT operations were tow densities of less than 0.3 fish / m3, tow biomass less than 5 kg / m3 andaverage tow speeds of around 0.5 knots. Stress indicators including cortisol, glucose, lactate, pH, osmolality, haemoglobin, insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and immune responses lysozyme and immunoglobulin (IgM) were of varying utility in elucidating SBT health aspects under ranching conditions. Suggested base reference levels in wild SBT were cortisol 10 to 70 ng/mL, glucose 5 to 10 mmol/L, lactate 1 to 10 mmol/L, pH 7.5 to 8.5, osmolality 375 to 460 mOsmol/kg, haemoglobin 13 to 21 g/dL, IGF 12 to 55 ng/mL, lysozyme 5 to 40 μg/mL and IgM 4 to 16 mg/mL. An acute primary stress response was evident at the completion of tows and elevated cortisol, lactate, osmolality and lysozyme levels suggested a modest chronic stress response throughout the ranching period. IGF levels mid season suggested production potential was not influenced greatly by chronic stress. Glucose, pH and IgM levels were not affected over ranching timeframes. Cortisol, lactate and osmolality levels under long-term holding (LTH) of SBT indicated the stress response was heightened and endured over the 18 month grow-out period. LTH glucose levels also indicated a stress response although lysozyme levels were less responsive within the 2005 LTH SBT cohort.
SBT appear to have a greater surface area cover of melanomacrophages (MMCs) within their haemopoietic organs than many fish. Kidney MMC area (1.21 + 0.17 %) was unresponsive to the influences of ranching whereas splenic MMC area (1.25 + 0.13 %) increased in a significant and predictable manner up to 2.36 times the initial area. Liver MMCs were very seldom detected in ranched SBT. The pigments melanin, haemosiderin and lipofuscin were all present in SBT MMCs, with kidney MMCs having more lipofuscin than haemosiderin, and splenic MMCs having high haemosiderin and less melanin. It was suggested that the increased splenic deposition likely was due to an increased exposure to exogenous waste material associated with infection by parasites, Cardicola spp.
This study recommended optimal tow practices for SBT capture-based operations and documented stress and immune responses as a result of tows, and of ranching over grow-out periods of 6 to 8 months. It provided collaborating evidence for the extent and timing of the onset of substantive adverse impacts from the infection of ranched SBT by Cardicola spp., around 2008. It documented the heightened and enduring stress response of SBT under an extended grow-out period and the associated immunosuppression from reduced complement activity pathways. The MMC characteristics of the kidney and spleen of SBT were documented for the first time and suggested a high capacity to process antigens and other foreign material to which aquaculture species can be exposed. Splenic MMCs were suggested to be a reliable, post-hoc measure for comparison of SBT health performance under ranching conditions.


Doctors perceive consultations with patients with functional neurological symptoms (FNS) as challenging because of the dichotomy between the psychosocial nature of the symptoms and patients' perceptions that their condition is essentially physical. Through conversation analysis, we describe some communicative strategies neurologists employ to make psychosocial attributions, ranging from unilateral to more bilateral approaches. In unilateral approaches doctors employ general explanations about the psychosocial aetiology, thereby pre-empting any potential resistance. In bilateral approaches, doctors actively involve patients in discussing potential psychosocial causes, by also making direct and specific psychosocial attributions. These practices display doctors' great caution in this communicative task; and they exhibit an hybridization with those employed by psychologists, which might be strictly linked to this type of patients.


This essay argues that post-incorporation Religion Clause doctrine is the story of a long shift from a dominant norm of strict separation of church and state, to one of religious neutrality, to the brink of a new norm of "Judeo-Christian tolerance" - that is, a doctrine that permits special legislative protections for religious exercise, and that constitutionalizes civil religious practices like government references to deity, so-called "nonsectarian" government prayer, and other government-sponsored religious displays and symbols. Nearly 50 years ago, Philip Kurland proposed a "religious neutrality" norm for the Religion Clauses. The Court did not take his advice; within a decade, the dominant Establishment Clause norm was the strict separation of church and state, though the special disabilities that separation imposed on religion under the Establishment Clause were balanced by constitutionally compelled exemptions giving special protection to religion under the Free Exercise Clause. Eventually, however, the Court shifted to religious neutrality as the dominant norm of both Religion Clauses, abandoning most of the special disabilities imposed by strict separation, as well as the special protections of religion afforded by exemptions. Nevertheless, neutrality has remained the dominant norm only for Establishment Clause questions raised by the distribution of government benefits to religion. Neutrality has been substantially undermined by a statutory revival of religious exemptions that has reinstituted special protection for religious exercise, and by growing acceptance of government endorsement or appropriation of religious symbols and practices, so long as these do not entail coercion of belief. The convergence of three doctrinal developments creates the possibility that tolerance might wholly displace neutrality as the dominant Establishment Clause norm, just as neutrality once displaced separation: the emergence of "acknowledgment" of religion as constitutionally permissible under the Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court's elaboration of a "government speech" principle that may remove even religious government messages from First Amendment scrutiny, and the likely replacement of "endorsement" by "coercion" as the principal touchstone for measuring Establishment Clause violations.


The prediction and analysis of air vehicle flight dynamics, as well as the evaluation of the flying qualities of new aircraft is a specialist service rendered by the CSIR to the South African Air Force (SAAF). The science of aerodynamics deals with the flow of air around aircraft and the resulting forces and moments, while flight dynamics concentrate on the aircraft's response to those forces. Flight dynamics therefore include the orientation and motion of an aircraft or other flight vehicle, as well as the stability and control of that vehicle.


Nuclear reactors entail massive non-transferrable site-specific investments. The resulting appropriable quasirents offer the mob the ideal target. In exchange for large fees, it can either promise to "protect" the utility (and silence the reactor's local opponents) or "extort" from it (and desist from inciting local opponents). Using municipality-level (1742 cities, towns, villages) and prefecture-level (47) Japanese panel data covering the years from 1980 to 2010, I find exactly this phenomenon: when a utility announces plans to build a reactor, the level of extortion climbs. Reactors have broad-ranging effects on social capital as well. In general, the perceived health costs to nuclear power are highest for young families. As a result, if a utility announces plans for a new reactor, these families disappear. Yet these are the men and women who invest most heavily in the social capital that keeps communities intact. When they disappear, reliance on government subsidies increases, and divorce rates rise. Firms stay away, and unemployment climbs.


Scat surveys are commonly used to monitor carnivore populations. Scats of sympatric carnivores can be difficult to differentiate and field-based identification can be misleading. We evaluated the success of field-based species identification for scats of 2 sympatric carnivores—coyotes (Canis latrans) and kit foxes (Vulpes macrotis). We conducted scat surveys in the Great Basin desert of Utah, USA, during the winter and summer of 2013, and we detected 1,680 carnivore scats. We classified scats based on field identification, recorded morphometric measurements, and collected fecal DNA samples for molecular species identification. We subsequently evaluated the classification success of field identification and the predictive power of 2 nonparametric classification techniques—k-nearest neighbors and classification trees—based on scat measurements. Overall, 12.2% of scats were misclassified by field identification, but misclassifications were not equitable between species. Only 7.1% of the scats identified as coyote with field identification were misclassified, compared with 22.9% of scats identified as kit fox. Results from both k-nearest neighbor and classification-tree analyses suggest that morphometric measurements provided an objective alternative to field identification that improved classification of rarer species. Overall misclassification rates for k-nearest neighbor and classification-tree analyses were 11.7% and 7.5%, respectively. Using classification trees, misclassification was reduced for kit foxes (8.5%) and remained similar for coyotes (7.2%), relative to field identification. Although molecular techniques provide unambiguous species identification, classification approaches may offer a cost-effective alternative. We recommend that monitoring programs employing scat surveys utilize molecular species identification to develop training data sets and evaluate the accuracy of field-based and statistical classification approaches. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.


One of the few things President Donald Trump and leading Democrats appear to agree on is the need to subject Big Technology ("Big Tech") firms to anti-trust scrutiny. But unsurprisingly they disagree about how to address the problem. Senator Elizabeth Warren and many other leading Democrats have called for breaking up large technology firms, such as Google, Amazon, and Facebook, in a revival of the trust-busting progressive era of the early twentieth century. In contrast, the Trump administration has triggered more traditional anti-trust monopoly review of potential anti-competitive activities of a number of leading technology firms, which is more likely to lead to financial sanctions (or more modest consequences).

This article argues that politicians may be identifying a legitimate concern about the market power of actors in highly concentrated markets. But they are looking at the problem through the wrong lens as the larger concern is less monopoly and more oligopoly domination (and more the potential than the current impact of oligopolies on the marketplace). The challenge of oligopolies is that it is difficult to monitor the individual and collective exercise of market power by oligopolists. Existing oligopoly regulation in the United States is almost exclusively reactive and fails to identify and address the potential impact of market concentration with the notable exception of the Federal Trade Commission's and Department of Justice's review of prospective mergers. The article makes the case for creating a mandate for federal regulators to oversee oligopolies in a preemptive way in order to better identify the potential for market abuses and to open up concentrated markets to greater competition. The underlying logic is that even if regulators cannot pinpoint anti-trust violations in the present, the higher the degree of market concentration, the greater the risk that oligopolies will possess and exercise market power to entrench their power and undercut competition. But rather than focusing on invasive divestments, this article suggests that policymakers consider employing a range of disclosure rules, regulatory exemptions, and tax incentives to level the playing field for smaller competitors in oligopolistic markets.

This article focuses on the imperative for anti-trust oversight of "filtering" or "access oligopolies" who serve as gatekeepers against fraud, data aggregators, and screeners of information and reputation. A small number of oligopolists dominate internet searches, social networking, online shopping, and more traditional spheres of accounting, rating agencies, and investment banking. Participants in these concentrated markets can easily engage in conscious parallelism to mimic one another's prices and practices because of the homogenous nature of the goods or services they provide. But the defining feature of many of these oligopolists is that they have prioritized market share growth and entrenchment by focusing on economies of scale, network benefits, and barriers to entry, rather than the conventional supracompetitive pricing that monopolists and oligopolists have embraced in the past. In fact, the paradox of many of these filtering intermediaries is that they may even enhance consumer welfare, such as by offering internet searches or messaging for "free" to consumers, while at the same time leveraging their market power to pressure corporate clients to adopt or retain their services.

Conventional anti-trust regulation focuses on preventing monopolists' abuse of their market power to distort market pricing. In contrast, anti-trust regulation of oligopolies is almost exclusively reactive and limited in scope. Regulators prohibit express collusion among oligopolies and impose limits on the expansion of oligopolies through mergers and acquisition based on the potential impact on market concentration. But regulators lack the means to remedy the underlying entrenchment of oligopolies and the resulting market distortions when there is no evidence of express communication or circumstantial evidence of agreement among the parties.

This article will suggest that anti-trust regulators sustain preemptive periodic oversight of highly concentrated markets (rather than react primarily in response to merger reviews), impose heightened disclosures on oligopolists to facilitate monitoring, and seek to open up these markets to greater competition by lowering the regulatory, disclosure, and tax barriers to entry for small market participants. This approach may not satisfy those echoing politicians' calls for mandatory divestments, but it is designed to recognize that high levels of market concentration heighten the potential danger of collusion and leveraging of market power by oligopolists.


Internet and social media (SM) have revolutionized the way scientific information is disseminated within our society. Nowadays professional and/or social networks are increasingly used for learning and informal science education successfully supplements the formal one at all educational levels. Students become addicted to technology from an early age and consistently use SM for communication purposes and personal image. In this context, it is reasonable to assume that the use of Web 2.0 and SM can be successfully integrated in formal science education. This integration, however, depends mainly on how teachers design the learning activities using Web 2.0 and SM, on their digital skills and expertise, on their attitude towards using SM to communicate for personal and professional purposes and to obtain educational benefits. In this study we start from the premise that a positive attitude of future science teachers towards ICT integration and their willingness to use SM in their educational communication can be formed in the initial teacher training program, being a crucial factor for the effective use of such tools in education in the future. We detail two activities and analyze them from the SM and Web 2.0 integration perspectives. The first activity is an extracurricular one in which students had to create a digital story and present it to secondary school children in class. The second activity is a curricular one aimed to promote a project-based learning and based on making a comic about an optical phenomenon taught in secondary school. We present and discuss these activities to emphasize how the skills that target science teaching using ICT and SM can be developed.


Due to the recent movements related to the focus of core competence and as a result of a tendency toward global profit squeezing, the innovativeness of the supply chain play a key role in influencing a firm's competitive advantage. Enterprises keep good relationships with their suppliers and customers in the hope that the supply chain system can operate effectively. This means that firms have been encouraged to connect key suppliers and customers in order to establish strong supply chains and thus to enhance the competitive advantages related to their supply chain systems. Electronic OEMs in Taiwan currently are facing fierce challenges related to high elasticity, fast speed, and small amounts and various modes of production. Therefore, enterprises need to enhance quick response through effective IT integration and mechanisms intended connect supply chain members in order to increase innovativeness and competitive advantage. The model and hypothesized relationship are empirically tested using the structural equation modeling approach, supported by SmartPLS2.0 software. The results of this study showed that IT integration and trust of supply chain members all positively influence innovativeness, and further have positive effects on competitive advantage. Implications for researchers and practitioners, and suggestions for future research are also addressed in this study.


Senescence is a permanent proliferation arrest in response to cell stress such as DNA damage. It contributes strongly to tissue aging and serves as a major barrier against tumor development. Most tumor cells are believed to bypass the senescence barrier (become "immortal") by inactivating growth control genes such as TP53 and CDKN2A. They also reactivate telomerase reverse transcriptase. Senescence-to-immortality transition is accompanied by major phenotypic and biochemical changes mediated by genome-wide transcriptional modifications. This appears to happen during hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in patients with liver cirrhosis, however, the accompanying transcriptional changes are virtually unknown. We investigated genome-wide transcriptional changes related to the senescence-to-immortality switch during hepatocellular carcinogenesis. Initially, we performed transcriptome analysis of senescent and immortal clones of Huh7 HCC cell line, and identified genes with significant differential expression to establish a senescence-related gene list. Through the analysis of senescence-related gene expression in different liver tissues we showed that cirrhosis and HCC display expression patterns compatible with senescent and immortal phenotypes, respectively; dysplasia being a transitional state. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that cirrhosis/senescence-associated genes were preferentially expressed in non-tumor tissues, less malignant tumors, and differentiated or senescent cells. In contrast, HCC/immortality genes were up-regulated in tumor tissues, or more malignant tumors and progenitor cells. In HCC tumors and immortal cells genes involved in DNA repair, cell cycle, telomere extension and branched chain amino acid metabolism were up-regulated, whereas genes involved in cell signaling, as well as in drug, lipid, retinoid and glycolytic metabolism were down-regulated. Based on these distinctive gene expression features we developed a 15-gene hepatocellular immortality signature test that discriminated HCC from cirrhosis with high accuracy. Our findings demonstrate that senescence bypass plays a central role in hepatocellular carcinogenesis engendering systematic changes in the transcription of genes regulating DNA repair, proliferation, differentiation and metabolism.