In the light of a continuously growing air traffic and a presumably resulting impairment of the quality of life of airport residents, the present doctoral thesis aims at the extensive investi-gation and description of short-term and long-term annoyance induced by aircraft noise in the vicinity of Cologne/Bonn Airport, Germany. This thesis was written in the framework of the European project COSMA (Community Oriented Solutions to Minimise Aircraft noise annoyance). A telephone study with 1,262 residents (M = 58.6 years, SD = 15.5, 61.8 % female) as well as an in-depth study in the field with further 55 residents (M = 45.7 years, SD = 14.3, 61.8 % female) were conducted. On the basis of these results, an attempt was made to identify measures to reduce community annoyance.
The telephone survey in summer 2010 focused on the examination of the status quo of community annoyance due to aircraft noise during the past 12 months (= long-term annoyance). Likewise, the study aimed at the identification of the key variables that determine the annoyance judgment in addition to the equivalent continuous noise level. A further purpose of the telephone survey was the preparation of the subsequent field study conducted in summer/autumn 2011.
The telephone survey was run in six areas exposed to an equivalent aircraft noise level between 40 and 55 dB(A). The aircraft noise exposure of the examination areas was oper¬a-tionalized by the A-weighted energy equivalent sound pressure level (LAeq) for the six busiest months of the year. The LAeq-values were extracted from a current noise contour map. Since at
Cologne/Bonn Airport air traffic, and in particular freight traffic, is operated also at night, not only the general annoyance but the annoyance at night, i.e., between 22:00 and 06:00 hours, was examined as well. Aircraft noise-induced annoyance was assessed by means of a semantic five-point scale recommended by the International Commission on the Biological Effects of Noise (ICBEN). In addition, an open format question was applied to gain information about times of day when the aircraft noise is particularly annoying. Diverse personal and situational factors were examined regarding their effect on annoyance. In a multiple-stage process using the multiple linear regression approach, a prediction model for aircraft noise annoyance was developed both for general and night-time annoyance.
A comparison of the annoyance data obtained in the vicinity of Cologne/Bonn Airport to the European standard exposure-response curve clearly indicated an increase of the percentage of highly annoyed individuals at a given noise level. Respondents reported particular high annoyance due to aircraft noise for the late evening and night. The variables found to signifi-cantly contribute to long-term annoyance ratings comprise the LAeq as well as the following non-acoustical predictors: a) the belief that the airport could take actions to improve the residents' situation, b) the perception of negative aspects of the local airport and air traffic, c) carrying out measures to cope with the noise, d) the general attitude towards the airport, e) the satisfaction with the residential area, f) the respondent's environmental conscience, g) the general sensi¬tivity to noise as well as h) the degree of urbanization of the investigated areas, and i) the presence and evaluation of domestic noise insulation. Night-time annoyance was predicted by the same variables as general annoyance and the size of the effect of the single predictors was compa¬rable. The ten predictors explained 54.8 % of the variance in the general annoyance ratings and 52.3 % of the variance in the night-time annoyance ratings.
Whereas a number of prior surveys focused on the examination of long-term annoyance due to aircraft noise, only very few studies examined short-term annoyance in the field. There-fore, the main purpose of the in-depth field study subsequent to the telephone survey was to inves¬tigate the contribution of a wide range of acoustical parameters and non-acous¬tical factors to aircraft noise-induced annoyance during the preceding hour. Further¬more, the field study aimed at the examination of the relation between daytime short-term annoyance, subjective sleep quality, and long-term annoyance. In addition, within the frame¬work of the present field study, the construct fairness that has been investigated mostly in the organi-zational and legal context by now was introduced to the context of aircraft noise exposure and annoyance in the field.
The field study was run in two areas with an equivalent aircraft noise level above 50 dB(A). Over four days and nights, the sound pressure level was logged continuously. Thereby, 30 acous¬tical parameters could be derived. Besides prominent noise indicators, such as the LAeq, the number of aircraft noise events, or the maximum level, parameters were calculated which have not been considered thoroughly in previous field studies on annoyance. In particular, person¬alized parameters were included that take into account the outdoor levels as well as the attenuation due to the partic¬ipant's whereabouts (outdoors vs. indoors) and different window positions. Simultaneously to the level recordings, participants repeatedly rated their annoy¬ance due to aircraft noise in the interval of one hour. Short-term annoyance in the preceding hour was assessed at daytime between the time the individuals got up and the time they went to bed. For the annoyance assessments, the semantic five-point scale recommended by the ICBEN was used that had been implemented in a stand-alone application on a netbook. Situational factors, such as the time of day and the activity carried out in the past hour, were ascertained in the course of these hourly assessments, too. In addition, the partici¬pants rated their subjective sleep quality for each of the four study nights. Further personal and rather time-invariant variables as well as the long-term annoyance due to aircraft noise in the past 12 months were surveyed in a supple¬mentary face-to face interview. Generalized Estimating Equations were applied to esti¬mate the impact of the acoustical parameters and non-acoustical factors on one-hour annoyance ratings. Several prediction models for short-term annoyance were developed and compared according to their model fit. The relation between short-term and long-term reactions to aircraft noise was assessed using the multiple linear regression approach. For the examination of fairness in the context of aircraft noise exposure, a new questionnaire was developed and evaluated. Three dimensions of the construct (distributive, procedural, and informational fairness) plus a global fairness judgment were tested on their correlation to long-term aircraft noise annoyance.
The model which predicted short-term annoyance ratings most precisely contains the person¬alized LAeq for aircraft noise during the past hour, the number of aircraft noise events in total, and the number of aircraft noise events above a threshold of 70 dB(A). Moreover, this model considers the activity carried out mostly during the past hour, the respondent's general sensitivity to noise, and the presence and evaluation of domestic noise insulation. A moderate relation was found between the average one-hour annoyance rating across the four study days and the general annoyance during the past 12 months. Furthermore, the field study results revealed that the contribution of the average subjective sleep quality during the study nights to long-term annoyance is equal to the contribution of the average short-term annoyance at daytime. The results of the fairness questionnaire showed that residents of Cologne/Bonn Airport perceive the allocation of aircraft noise and the airport-related decision-making as only slightly fair. The general belief that one is treated fairly with respect to aircraft noise was related higher to long-term annoyance than the score for any of the three fairness dimensions.
The findings of the telephone and field study stress the importance of the number of aircraft noise events besides the LAeq as well as the impact of personal and situational factors for the prediction of aircraft noise-induced annoyance. Whereas for long-term annoyance, the influence of the personal factors is prevailing, for short-term annoyance, the situational and acoustical variables are decisive. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the long-term annoy-ance rating does not reflect merely an average rating across several different noise situ¬ations. With regard to the status quo of community annoyance due to aircraft noise, the conclusion is that the current European standard dose-response curve needs to be updated as it seems to underestimate the percentage of highly annoyed residents. Moreover, the results emphasized the high contribution of nocturnal annoyance and disturbance due to aircraft noise to general long-term annoyance. For a reduction of the community annoyance, not only acoustical and operational aspects of the aircraft noise exposure should to be improved. Likewise, a candid and truthful communication between the profiteers of the air traffic and the airport residents exposed to the noise needs to be estab¬lished to enhance the acceptance of the air traffic in the vicinity of the airport.


Time-dependent density-functional theory (TDDFT) is widely used to describe electronic excitations in complex finite systems with large numbers of atoms, such as biomolecules and nanocrystals. The first part of this paper will give a simple and pedagogical explanation, using a two-level system, which shows how the basic TDDFT formalism for excitation energies works. There is currently an intense effort underway to develop TDDFT methodologies for the charge and spin dynamics in extended systems, to calculate optical properties of bulk and nanostructured materials, and to study transport through molecular junctions. The second part of this paper highlights some challenges and recent advances of TDDFT in these areas. Two examples are discussed: excitonic effects in insulators and intersubband plasmon excitations in doped semiconductor quantum wells.


Several design methods and principles have been proposed in the literature in order to guide the design of autonomous operations. Putting the required efforts into learning and using the methods is a daunting task, and experiences have shown that the use of methods meant to the help the design process are often ignored. The reason could be that the design guidelines are too complex and contain information that is not relevant for the project at hand, and that there is no easy way to distinguish what is important from what is not. In this article, we propose a canvas as a tool to support the use of Autonomous Job Analysis (AJA). The authors have previously developed AJA as a structured method for designing an autonomous operation by breaking it down in to sub-operations in order to reveal challenges, needs and limitations regarding autonomous behavior. The canvas contains the categories of the AJA method on a single page — the canvas — and each category is supported with questions to be asked during the design procedure, as well as example answers. We will describe the AJA canvas in detail, and show how it can be applied to design an autonomous operation for inspection of the net of a sea based fish farm using an underwater vehicle.


Over the course of the twentieth century, Buddhism came to be associated widely with peace, tolerance, and calm detachment in the Western popular imagination. This association was created in opposition to depictions of Christianity as violent, intolerant, and irrational. Buddhism, as the imagined perfect Other, held considerable appeal for counterculture seekers disenchanted with mainstream cultures. While many Buddhist groups played upon these stereotypes to enhance their image and support recruitment, one new Buddhist movement—the Friends of the Western Buddhist Order—went further, employing ritualized "therapeutic blasphemy" to eradicate Christian conditioning in their members and critique mainstream society. Such actions baffled many other Buddhists, but make sense when seen as efforts to heighten in-group solidarity, proclaim distinctive identity, and take the assumption of Buddhism's superiority over Christianity to its ultimate conclusion. This article attempts to explain why Buddhists might develop intolerant practices, and to assess the costs and benefits of such practices.


Regret minimization is a powerful tool for solving large-scale problems; it was recently used in breakthrough results for large-scale extensive-form game solving. This was achieved by composing simplex regret minimizers into an overall regretminimization framework for extensive-form game strategy spaces. In this paper we study the general composability of regret minimizers. We derive a calculus for constructing regret minimizers for composite convex sets that are obtained from convexity-preserving operations on simpler convex sets. We show that local regret minimizers for the simpler sets can be combined with additional regret minimizers into an aggregate regret minimizer for the composite set. As one application, one can show that the CFR framework can be constructed easily from our framework. One can also show ways to include curtailing (constraining) operations into our framework. For one, they enable the construction of CFR generalization for extensive-form games with general convex strategy constraints that can cut across decision points.


9-hydroxystearic acid (9-HSA) belongs to a class of lipid peroxidation products identified in several human and murine cell lines. These products are greatly diminished in tumors compared to normal tissues and their amount is inversely correlated with the malignancy of the tumor.
 9-HSA activity has been tested in cancer cell lines, where it showed to act as a histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) inhibitor. In particular, in a colon cancer cell line (HT29), its administration resulted in an inhibition of proliferation together with an induction of differentiation.
In this thesis the effect of (R)-9-hydroxystearic acid has been tested in vivo on cell proliferation and differentiation processes, in the early stages of zebrafish development.
The final aim of this work was to elucidate the role of (R)-9-HSA in the control of cell differentiation and proliferation during normal development, in order to better understand its molecular control of cancerogenesis.
The molecule has been administered via injection in the yolk of zebrafish embryos. The analysis of the histone acetylation pattern showed a hyperacetilation of histone H4 after treatment with the molecule, as detectable in HDAC1 mutants.
(R)-9-HSA was also demonstrated to interfere with the signaling pathways that regulate proliferation and differentiation in zebrafish retina and hindbrain. This resulted in a reduction of proliferation in the hindbrain at 24 hours post injection (hpi), and in a hyperproliferation at 48 and 72 hpi in the retina, with a concomitant inhibition of differentiation.
Finally, (R)-9-HSA effects were evident on proliferation of stem cell located in the ciliary marginal zone (CMZ) of the retina. The presence of ROS and 4-hydroxynoneal in the CMZ of wild-type embryos supports the hypothesis that oxidative stress could regulate stem cells fate in zebrafish retina.


Toxic marine algae increasingly cause problems worldwide by forming so called harmful algal blooms (HABs). Although growth, taxonomic composition and diversity, ecophysiology and biomass transfer are well understood, few is known about the chemical interactions on species level, which are responsible for the regulation of growth, competitive factors and species succession. The ecological chemistry group at the AWI starts an interdisciplinary approach towards the understanding of these interactions of single protist species. The interdisciplinary approach consists of competition and survival experiments for the detection and investigation of allelochemical interactions among protist species, genetic and molecular biological methods for the analysis of gene expression and function of involved genes, and finally analytical chemical methods for the detection and quantitation of secondary metabolites that mediate these effects. A short overview over some currently ongoing projects will be given.


Based on several years of field research in urban neighbourhoods situated in several Chinese cities this paper investigates the effects of housing reform and the spatial reorganization of China's cities on the recognition of citizenship rights. It has two main objectives: firstly, to show that there is a direct relationship between the Chinese state's goal of maintaining social stability and containing social conflicts and the re-zoning of urban residential spaces. And secondly to investigate the role that these spaces and their new governance arrangements play in justifying loyalties towards the state.


Previous research has shown that young fishes will decrease foraging activity while in the
presence of a predatory threat. In most of these studies, however, individuals have been exposed to acute
pulses of predatory threat of short duration; thus, little is known about the long-term impacts of predatory
threat on development in newly hatched fish. In the present study, newly hatched ocean pout
Macrozoarces americanus were visually exposed to predatory juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua for
6 h per day during the feeding period. At 3°C, 8 wk old pout not exposed to predators were significantly
larger (standard length and wet mass), and had a higher hepatosomatic index than fish exposed to
predators. Pout exposed to predators also had lower levels of whole-body phospholipids and triacylglycerol,
as well as decreased levels of essential fatty acids (arachidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid).
Interestingly, there were no differences in size, hepatosomatic index or lipid content between the 2 treatments
when the experiment was performed at 8°C, despite a decrease in foraging activity of the pout exposed
to predators at this temperature. These results suggest that frequent predatory threat can affect
the development of newly hatched fishes, and that temperature can affect the ability to observe growth
trade-offs when performing threat-sensitive foraging experiments with ectotherms.


Purpose The aim of this review was to compare radiation toxicity in Localized Prostate Cancer (LPC) patients who underwent conventional fractionation (CV), hypofractionated (HYPO) or extreme hypofractionated (eHYPO) radiotherapy. We analyzed the impact of technological innovation on the management of prostate cancer, attempting to make a meta-analysis of randomized trials. Methods PubMed database has been explored for studies concerning acute and late urinary/gastrointestinal toxicity in low/intermediate risk LPC patients after receiving radiotherapy. Studies were then gathered into 5 groups: detected acute and chronic toxicity data from phase II non randomized trials were analyzed and Odds Ratio (OR) was calculated by comparing the number of patients with G0-1 toxicity and those with toxicity > G2 in the studied groups. A meta-analysis of prospective randomized trials was also carried out. Results The initial search yielded 575 results, but only 32 manuscripts met all eligibility requirements: in terms of radiation-induced side effects, such as gastrointestinal and genitourinary acute and late toxicity, hypofractionated 3DCRT seemed to be more advantageous than 3DCRT with conventional fractionation as well as IMRT with conventional fractionation compared to 3DCRT with conventional fractionation; furthermore, IMRT hypofractionated technique appeared more advantageous than IMRT with conventional fractionation in late toxicities. Randomized trials meta-analysis disclosed an advantage in terms of acute gastrointestinal and late genitourinary toxicity for Hypofractionated schemes. Conclusions Although our analysis pointed out a more favorable toxicity profile in terms of gastrointestinal acute side effects of conventional radiotherapy schemes compared to hypofractionated ones, prospective randomized trials are needed to better understand the real incidence of rectal and urinary toxicity in patients receiving radiotherapy for localized prostate cancer.


Today there are varieties of comments prevailing among people who use Plastic and Paper bags for their shopping needs. A few people support Plastic bags with their own justifications and others support Paper bags. This is a hot topic of today and arguments are going up and down to deduce which one is better in terms of environmental impact, but some people abstain from this issue by choosing the other option of going with reusable bags. This exploratory study is attempted to infer the environmental concerns made by these bags. The two common grocery bags of today - Paper & Plastic bags are compared in this study. Two imperative measures - total amount of energy used by a bag to get it manufactured and the amount of pollutants emitted during the manufacturing phase of a bag - are chosen as data for Life Cycle Inventory (LCI). To arrive at a clear state of conclusion with respect to environmental impact made by these two bags, life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) study was accomplished. Evolvement of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study from the data available on this context is the crux of this study. The Eco-indicator 99, damage oriented method for LCIA in SIMAPRO 7.1 tool is used to assess the environmental impact made by these two grocery bags. The single score values calculated by the Eco-indicator 99 is considered as a directive to compare the environmental impact made by these and a detailed explanation of results is also dealt with in this paper. As far as the Life cycle energy analysis and amount of pollutants produced from these two bags are concerned, a plastic bag simply scores out a paper bag. The impact assessment results are also in line to support the plastic bags over paper bags. However, this conclusion has been drawn on the basis of the secondary data chosen for LCI and the results provided by the software which also has certain hypotheses and assumptions.


C++ Sale price. You will save 66% with this offer. Please hurry up! The Crash Course to Learn C++ Programming and Computer Hacking (c plus plus, C++ for beginners, programming computer, hacking the system, how to hack, hacking exposed) C++ The Ultimate Guide to Learn C Programming (c plus plus, C++ for beginners, programming computer, how to program) The evolution that we have seen in technology in the last 10 years, has seen nearly everything that we interact with on a daily basis be controlled by a computer. As we know, all computers operate using a programming language most commonly referred to as C++. To many, C++ looks like a type of language that they will never be able to understand. However, learning C++ is much easier than you would think. Every process, large or small, are a series of smaller steps which achieve the end result. When you break down the computer programming language into smaller steps, you will quickly be able to come to terms with what everything means in no time at all. Through this book, you will learn the basics that every beginner wanting to learn about C++ should know. Here is a preview of what you'll learn: How to make our very first C++ program in less than 10 minutes. What software can we use to write C++ code. How to expand our program using variables. Different types of operators. How to make programs that loop. Solving simple problems using conditions and pointers. Computer Hacking The Essential Hacking Guide for Beginners Have you ever wanted to learn more about hacking? Have you wanted to understand the secrets of the hacking community, or understand some of the key techniques used by hackers? Have you wondered about the motivations of hackers, or been intrigued by how people are still targeted by hackers despite the increasing availability of computer security software? If so, then this book is right for you! Hacking is the act of gaining unauthorized access to a computer system, and can include viewing or copying data, or even creating new data. Hacking is more than simply a pastime for those who are interested in technology, and more than simply an illegal activity used for personal gain and with malicious intent, although both of these motivations do make up much of hacking activity. In fact, hacking is its own subculture, and members of the community feel very strongly about their ideologies, techniques and social relationships in the computer underworld. As digital culture continues to grow, it seems that both ethical and unethical hacking will become more and more skilled and its impact evermore significant. This book provides an introduction to the key concepts, techniques and challenges of hacking and includes the following topics:What is hackingHacking and the influence of cyberpunkThe different types of hackersThe role of computer securityHacking techniques Download your copy of "C++" by scrolling up and clicking "Buy Now With 1-Click" button. Tags: C Programming, C++programming, C++ programming language, HTML, C++, c plus plus, PHP, Java, C++ Programming for Beginners, c primer plus, C Programming for Beginners, C++, Programming for beginners, computer programming, programming computer, ultimate guide, programming for beginners, software development, software programs, how to program, browsers, computer language, computer basics, computing essentials, computer guide, computers books, internet browsing, hacking, how to hack, hacking exposed, hacking system, hacking 101, hacking for dummies, Hacking Guide, Hacking Essentials, Computer Bugs, Security Breach, internet skills, hacking techniques, Hacking, hacking for dummies, hacking books, hacking guide, how to hack, hacking free guide.


"The Rough Guide to Videogames" is the ultimate guide to the world's most addictive pastime. Both a nostalgic look at the past and a celebration of the latest in joystick-wrecking wonders, this book covers the full story from the first arcade machines to the latest digital delights. Easy access to 75 of the greatest games of all time, from Civilization and Pro Evolution Soccer to We Love Katamari and World of Warcraft. The guide profiles the stories behind the software giants, famous creators and the world's favorite characters, including Mario, Lara Croft and Sonic the Hedgehog. All the gadgets and devices for consoles, hand-helds, phones and PCs are explored as well as the wider world of gaming, from websites and movies to books.


Contributors to this volume argue that blacks were a formative civilizing influence on Asian societies. Presenting their case with persuasive eloquence and research, the authors examine cultural forms, art motifs, weapons, scripts, and skeletal evidence to link Asian civilizations to Africa's Nile Valley. Articles detail both the physical and cultural presence of Africans in Asia. Topics covered include the black presence and heavy intermittent influence in Sumer, Elam, and Arabia; contributions of Dravidians and Ethiopian blacks to the Indus Valley civilizations; the history of the first Chinese emperor, Fu-Hsi; the origin of martial arts; parallels between Krishna, Guatama Buddha, and Jesus; and the nature of slavery in Arabia and Asia. Five major chapters have been added to this new edition, adding substantially to the range and depth of the original volume.


The purpose of this article is to explore and problematise teachers' talk about outdoor education in New Zealand. The focus is on what can be said, how it is said and the discursive effects of such ways of speaking. The inquiry draws on Foucauldian theoretical insights to analyse interview transcripts derived from semi-structured interviews with eight outdoor education teachers who work at secondary schools in New Zealand. Findings suggest that different discourses co-exist and are intertwined in the participants' talk. Associated with a dominating discourse of adventure are subdiscourses of risk and safety, pursuit-based activities, skill and assessment. Connected to a discourse of learning are subdiscourses of environment, sustainability and social critique. Resistance towards a dominating discourse of adventure with pursuit-based activities can be traced in a discourse of learning in the form of a more place-responsive pedagogy.


A substantial school in the philosophy of science identifies Bayesian inference with inductive inference and even rationality as such, and seems to be strengthened by the rise and practical success of Bayesian statistics. We argue that the most successful forms of Bayesian statistics do not actually support that particular philosophy but rather accord much better with sophisticated forms of hypothetico-deductivism. We examine the actual role played by prior distributions in Bayesian models, and the crucial aspects of model checking and model revision, which fall outside the scope of Bayesian confirmation theory. We draw on the literature on the consistency of Bayesian updating and also on our experience of applied work in social science. Clarity about these matters should benefit not just philosophy of science, but also statistical practice. At best, the inductivist view has encouraged researchers to fit and compare models without checking them; at worst, theorists have actively discouraged practitioners from performing model checking because it does not fit into their framework.


This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This easy-to-read book introduces the basics of solving partial differential equations by means of finite difference methods. Unlike many of the traditional academic works on the topic, this book was written for practitioners. Accordingly, it especially addresses: the construction of finite difference schemes, formulation and implementation of algorithms, verification of implementations, analyses of physical behavior as implied by the numerical solutions, and how to apply the methods and software to solve problems in the fields of physics and biology.


"The essay describes three design projects which aim to interact specifically with
the Alpine context, in Switzerland, in contrast to the undifferentiated and non-specific
nature of architecture in the age of globalisation.
The Jugendwohnheim Mattini project in Brig enhances the surrounding rural landscape
by repurposing a castle as a youth home for the housing and education of
adolescents in need. The small baroque castle has undergone conservative renovation;
the former barn on its side now houses teaching spaces, and a new building
on the other side has been added to provide both common rooms and private bedrooms.
The surrounding shared outdoor area is ideal for both leisure and educational
activities: they provide an opportunity for socialisation and reintegration through
work and care of the land, and through the enjoyment of its products, which translate
into regeneration and self-care.
The project for a new elderly home in Giornico interacts with the natural landscape
of the Leventina Valley, which is narrowed by steep slopes and crossed by the river
Ticino. The characteristic reference points used by the designers for the development
of the final projects of the elderly home are the Romanesque church of St.
Nicholas, marked by precise and rigorous stereometric volumes, and the La Congiunta
museum, designed by architect Peter Märkli.
The square layout of the elderly home frees up space on the sides and creates a dialogue
with the surrounding environment. It extends in height, with a portico on the
ground floor and a terrace on the top floor covering the entire perimeter of the building.
Inside, the common rooms recall the density of villages, while the bedrooms
offer domestic intimacy. Pathways and panoramic viewpoints overlook the surrounding
landscape, with its natural and cultural values, representing the scenery of
everyday life and the memory of the elderly.
Thanks to the restoration of the Motto bridge over river Brenno, the infrastructure
reconnects to the landscape, linking the village church to the oratory of the cemetery.
The bridge re-establishes a continuity between anthropic artefacts, historical
values, and the river landscape."


This study focused on assessing the release potential of various metals and a metalloid (arsenic; As) leached from gold mine tailings under three different degrees of acidity (pH 2, 4 and 6.5) using a synthetic precipitation leaching procedure (SPLP). Tailings were collected from four pits from 0 to 16 m depth, approximately. The samples were divided into the three types, based on their position in the tailings and on other physical characteristics, of the sulphide (c. 5 m depth), mixing (c. 1 m depth) and oxide (c. 10 m depth) zones. This study was primarily concerned with the concentrations of As and Mn, which were found to exceed the Thailand Industrial Effluent Standard (TIES) in the tailings from all zones. Principal component analysis revealed that the release of metals and As from the tailings under acidic conditions, as well as the metals and As mobility, was mainly controlled by the pH and redox conditions. Moreover, the first principal component had high positive loadings of Mn, Pb, Co and Ni (R2 > 0.80), indicating that these four metals are either released into the environment from a common source or/and their geochemical behaviour in the aqueous phase is similar. Supplementary material: Concentration of metals and As leached from the sulphide mixing and oxide zones at differing pHs are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3840154


Abstract The study examined the effects of testing accommodations on the mathematics test scores of a sample of 86 fourth-grade students, which included 43 students with disabilities (SWD) and 43 students without disabilities (SWOD). This study featured a 2 × 2 × 2 mixed design in which all participants were tested under a treatment condition (i.e., accommodations during test) and a control condition (i.e., no accommodations during test) using equivalent forms of a mathematics test used in many statewide assessment programs. Testing conditions were randomized to counteract possible order effects. Primary analyses indicated that SWDs experienced a larger effect in the accommodated condition than did SWODs. The SWDs profited more than SWODs on the multiple-choice items, but not on the constructed-response items. Similar numbers of students with and without disabilities experienced either (a) a beneficial effect in the accommodated test condition resulting in an increased proficiency level, (b) a detrimental effect in the accommodated test condition resulting in a decreased proficiency level, or (c) a minimal effect resulting in no change in proficiency levels. These results and several limitations to the study are discussed along with implications for practice and future research.


Asymmetric current sheets are likely to be prevalent in both astrophysical and laboratory plasmas with complex three dimensional (3D) magnetic topologies. This work presents kinematic analytical models for spine and fan reconnection at a radially symmetric 3D null (i.e., a null where the eigenvalues associated with the fan plane are equal) with asymmetric current sheets. Asymmetric fan reconnection is characterized by an asymmetric reconnection of flux past each spine line and a bulk flow of plasma across the null point. In contrast, asymmetric spine reconnection is characterized by the reconnection of an equal quantity of flux across the fan plane in both directions. The higher modes of spine reconnection also include localized wedges of vortical flux transport in each half of the fan. In this situation, two definitions for reconnection rate become appropriate: a local reconnection rate quantifying how much flux is genuinely reconnected across the fan plane and a global rate associated with the net flux driven across each semi-plane. Through a scaling analysis, it is shown that when the ohmic dissipation in the layer is assumed to be constant, the increase in the local rate bleeds from the global rate as the sheet deformation is increased. Both models suggest that asymmetry in the current sheet dimensions will have a profound effect on the reconnection rate and manner of flux transport in reconnection involving 3D nulls.


Impact assessment is an important and cost‐effective tool for assisting in the identification and prioritization of invasive alien species. With the number of alien and invasive alien species expected to increase, reliance on impact assessment tools for the identification of species that pose the greatest threats will continue to grow. Given the importance of such assessments for management and resource allocation, it is critical to understand the uncertainty involved and what effect this may have on the outcome. Using an uncertainty typology and insects as a model taxon, we identified and classified the causes and types of uncertainty when performing impact assessments on alien species. We assessed 100 alien insect species across two rounds of assessments with each species independently assessed by two assessors. Agreement between assessors was relatively low for all three impact classification components (mechanism, severity, and confidence) after the first round of assessments. For the second round, we revised guidelines and gave assessors access to each other's assessments which improved agreement by between 20% and 30% for impact mechanism, severity, and confidence. Of the 12 potential reasons for assessment discrepancies identified a priori, 11 were found to occur. The most frequent causes (and types) of uncertainty (i.e., differences between assessment outcomes for the same species) were as follows: incomplete information searches (systematic error), unclear mechanism and/or extent of impact (subjective judgment due to a lack of knowledge), and limitations of the assessment framework (context dependence). In response to these findings, we identify actions that may reduce uncertainty in the impact assessment process, particularly for assessing speciose taxa with diverse life histories such as Insects. Evidence of environmental impact was available for most insect species, and (of the non‐random original subset of species assessed) 14 of those with evidence were identified as high impact species (with either major or massive impact). Although uncertainty in risk assessment, including impact assessments, can never be eliminated, identifying, and communicating its cause and variety is a first step toward its reduction and a more reliable assessment outcome, regardless of the taxa being assessed.


This thesis poses two fundamental issues regarding Hegel's philosophy of
intersubjectivity. Firstly, it examines Kojeve's problematic interpretation of
Hegelian intersubjectivity as being solely rooted in the dialectic of lordship
and bondage. It is my contention that Kojeve conflates the concepts of
recognition {Anerkennung) with that of desire (Begierde), thereby reducing
Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity to a violent reduction of the other to
the same. This is so despite the plenary of examples Hegel uses to define
intersubjectivity as the mutual (reciprocal) recognition between the self and
the other. Secondly, it examines Hegel's use of Sophocles' Antigone to
demonstrate the notion of the individual par excellence. I contend that
Hegel's use of Antigone opens a new methodological framework through
which to view his philosophy of intersubjectivity. It is Antigone that
demonstrates the upheaval of an economy of exchange between the self and
the other, whereby the alterity of the other transcends the self Ultimately,
Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity must be reexamined, not only to
dismiss Kojeve's problematic interpretation, but also to pose the possibility
that Hegel's philosophy of intersubjectivity can viably account for a
philosophy of the other that has a voice in contemporary philosophical
debate.


A survey of MPLS protection methods and their utilization in combination with online routing methods is presented in this article. Usually, fault management methods pre-establish backup paths to recover traffic after a failure. In addition, MPLS allows the creation of different backup types, and hence MPLS is a suitable method to support traffic-engineered networks. In this article, an introduction of several label switch path backup types and their pros and cons are pointed out. The creation of an LSP involves a routing phase, which should include QoS aspects. In a similar way, to achieve a reliable network the LSP backups must also be routed by a QoS routing method. When LSP creation requests arrive one by one (a dynamic network scenario), online routing methods are applied. The relationship between MPLS fault management and QoS online routing methods is unavoidable, in particular during the creation of LSP backups. Both aspects are discussed in this article. Several ideas on how these actual technologies could be applied together are presented and compared.


In soils with relatively high pH (pH > 7), potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) and other
phosphorus (P) demanding crops might suffer from P deficiency despite P fertilization and
significant reserves of P in the soil. Also, a high risk for P deficiency for potatoes may be
expected when the soil is cold and the root system undeveloped. Therefore, the risk of Plimitation
in high-pH soils is probably greatest for early varieties. In this study a trial was set
up with two objectives: (i) To assess the effect of ammonium sulphate (T1) on P uptake,
vegetative growth and tuber yield in potatoes grown without addition of P in soils with
relatively high pH (7.5) and P-AL class IVB (12.5 mg P/100 g soil), under climatic conditions
similar to those for early potatoes in the south of Sweden. The effect of ammonium sulphate
was compared with the effect of ammonium nitrate (T2), ammonium chloride (T3) and
potassium nitrate (T4). (ii) To assess the impact of inoculation with spores of arbuscular
mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) Rhizophagus irregularis (T5) and the phosphorus solubilizing
bacteria (PSB) Bacillus megaterium (T6) on the said parameters and under the same
conditions. The trial was limited to the early potato variety 'Solist' grown with one level of
nitrogen fertilizer. After harvesting, data was collected on fresh and dry matter and shoots and
tubers were analysed for P content. The potato plants in the trial did not reach full maturity,
probably due to salt toxicity, which made any possible differences between the treatments
difficult to discern. At harvest the P concentration in all plants in all treatments was lower
than normal levels. No significant differences were found between treatments on the effect on
total dry weight of tubers or shoots. Also, no significant differences were found between
treatments in number of tubers produced. The plants which received ammonium chloride (T3)
had a significant smaller concentration of P compared to T1, T2 and T5. The difference can
probably be explained by the fact that T3 had the highest salt concentration of all treatments.
AMF colonization in the roots were found in all pots in both the control T2 and the inoculated
T5. In conclusion, the result did not support the hypothesis that it would be possible to control
P availability for early potatoes, grown in alkaline soils with relatively high P content,
through the choice of nitrogen source or through inoculation with PSB or AMF.


Background The incidence of lumbar spine injury is high in rowers. Spinal kinematics and fatigue may influence onset of this injury. Objective To quantify lumbar spine motion in the frontal plane (at L3) and examine the effects of fatigue (measured by changes in blood lactate accumulation) on changes in angular displacement of the lumbar spine during ergometer rowing. Design The lumbar spine kinematics of the study cohort were measured using a Spectrotilt Inclinometer connected to a Biometrics DataLog system. Setting A laboratory based study of elite level rowing. Participants 12 elite rowers, all male, mean age 23.2 (5.2) years, mean weight 79.1 (5) Kg. Assessment of risk factors Lumbar spine angular kinematics were measured in the frontal plane at L3 during an ergometer rowing trial. The trial was an incremental 'step test' on a Concept 2 ergometer. Blood lactate was sampled at 3 min intervals throughout the test using a portable lactate analyser. Main outcome measurements Changes in spinal angular displacement between the first and last stage of the test. Fatigue was indicated by accumulation of blood lactate. Results Mean angular displacement was 4.6° (1.4) at the first stage of the test, increasing to 8.7° (2.1) for the last stage. A significant increase in frontal plane angular displacement between the first and last stage of the test was observed (mean increase=4.1° (1.94), 95% CI 2.9 to 5.3°, t=7.36, p=0.000014). Incremental rise in angular displacement was associated with an incremental rise in blood lactate. Conclusion The high values of angular displacement reached by the participants in this study confirm that there is considerable frontal plane motion during rowing and this increases with fatigue and should be considered as a factor for injury.


Objective The aims of this study were: (i) to determine the factors associated with HRQOL at baseline in our cohort, and (ii) to evaluate if there are differences in baseline HRQOL measures by antiretroviral treatment. Methods The Short Form 36 (SF-36) was administered between 2006 and 2010 among members of the United States HIV Natural History Study cohort (NHS), and participants who completed the SF-36 were included in the study. Physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores were computed based on standard algorithms. Multivariate linear regression models were constructed for PCS and MCS to estimate the association between selected variables and HRQOL scores. Results Antiretroviral therapy (ART) was not independently associated with HRQOL scores. Factors associated with PCS were CD4+ count < 200 cells/mm3 (β = -5.84, 95% CI: -7.63, -4.06), mental comorbidity (β = -2.82, 95% CI: -3.79, -1.85), medical comorbidity (β = -2.51, 95% CI: -3.75, -1.27), AIDS diagnosis (β = -2.38, 95% CI: -3.79, -0.98). Others were gender, military rank, marital status, and age. Factors independently associated with MCS were CD4+ count < 200 cells/mm3 (β = -1.93, 95% CI: -3.85, -0.02), mental comorbidity (β = -6.25, 95% CI: -7.25, -5.25), age (β = 0.37, 95% CI: 0.14, 0.60), and being African American (β = 1.55, 95% CI: 0.63, 2.47). Conclusion Among military active duty and beneficiaries with HIV, modifiable factors associated with HRQOL measures included advanced HIV disease, and mental or medical comorbidity. Addressing these factors may improve quality of life of HIV-infected individuals in the NHS cohort.


We examined the link between social comparison with friends and self-perceptions of academic competence during adolescence and how personality may play a role in this link. Participants were 193 eighth-grade students who attended a rural, mid-Atlantic middle school. We used difference scores to measure the extent to which students' nominated and reciprocated friends had higher academic performance in math and reading than the students themselves. Regression analyses revealed that, as students' friends had higher math test scores than the students themselves, students' academic self-competence decreased. For reading, however, a similar result only held for students with higher levels of dispositional hope. The role that hope plays in how students interpret unfavorable social comparisons, and in how they view their academic competence, may not be straightforward. The implications of social comparison may also vary across academic domains.


I articulate my thoughts in the language of glass. I have dedicated myself to the technical and conceptual understanding of this material for the past nine years. I am drawn to glass as a conceptual artist because of the dichotomies the medium presents. Glass can be liquid or solid, transparent or opaque, strong or fragile. Glass as an art object can be incredibly precious, while in industrial applications it is considered disposable. It is a material that we use so frequently in our daily lives that it is almost invisible. Although glass has an ancient history, it is also used in cutting edge technology. In my work I seek to expose the many aspects of this protean material and its similarities to human strength and fragility. Conceptually this body of work deals with by issues surrounding identity and how we come to be who we are, through both nature and nurture. I am particularly interested in the impact of the family system on the individual identity. In an effort to explore these issues, I have created a body of work that explores my own genealogy as well as my own nature through glass sculpture, incorporating family photographs and found objects. I create with found objects that have outlived their owners and have had multiple lifetimes. I am intrigued by objects that I can use to create new contexts and metaphors in their exhibition. These works represent my interest in memory, perception and time. My approach to these concepts is based in my own brand of "science". The creation of these objects and their subsequent display represent my attempt to understand the ways my ancestry and nurture have shaped my identity.


The cytokine transforming growth factor–β (TGF-β) converts naïve T cells into regulatory T (Treg) cells that prevent autoimmunity. However, in the presence of interleukin-6 (IL-6), TGF-β has also been found to promote the differentiation of naïve T lymphocytes into proinflammatory IL-17 cytokine-producing T helper 17 (TH17) cells, which promote autoimmunity and inflammation. This raises the question of how TGF-β can generate such distinct outcomes. We identified the vitamin A metabolite retinoic acid as a key regulator of TGF-β–dependent immune responses, capable of inhibiting the IL-6–driven induction of proinflammatory TH17 cells and promoting anti-inflammatory Treg cell differentiation. These findings indicate that a common metabolite can regulate the balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory immunity.


This course reviews the key genomic technologies and computational approaches that are driving advances in prognostics, diagnostics, and treatment. Throughout the semester, emphasis will return to issues surrounding the context of genomics in medicine including: what does a physician need to know? what sorts of questions will s/he likely encounter from patients? how should s/he respond? Lecturers will guide the student through real world patient-doctor interactions. Outcome considerations and socioeconomic implications of personalized medicine are also discussed. The first part of the course introduces key basic concepts of molecular biology, computational biology, and genomics. Continuing in the informatics applications portion of the course, lecturers begin each lecture block with a scenario, in order to set the stage and engage the student by showing: why is this important to know? how will the information presented be brought to bear on medical practice? The final section presents the ethical, legal, and social issues surrounding genomic medicine. A vision of how genomic medicine relates to preventative care and public health is presented in a discussion forum with the students where the following questions are explored: what is your level of preparedness now? what challenges must be met by the healthcare industry to get to where it needs to be?


A novel, low-power, reconfigurable FFT processor is proposed. The architecture is served as a scalable IP core which is suitable for system-on-chip applications. The system can be configured as 16-point to 1024-point FFT. Flexibility is added to address the generation block, coefficient memory block and data memory block. Two switch blocks are implemented to route data and addresses to the right memory blocks. Compared with a conventional ASIC FFT processor, this FFT processor is characterized by having reconfigurability; compared with an FFT processor which is mapped onto a general purpose reconfigurable architecture, it has lower-power and smaller area consumption.


Genetic incompatibilities can emerge as a by-product of genetic divergence. According to Dobzhansky and Muller, alleles at different loci that have fixed in different genetic backgrounds may be incompatible when brought together in a hybrid. Orr showed that the number of Dobzhansky–Muller incompatibilities (DMIs) should accumulate faster than linearly—i.e., snowball—as two lineages diverge. Several studies have attempted to test the snowball model using data from natural populations. One limitation of these studies is that they have focused on predictions of the snowball model but not on its underlying assumptions. Here we use a computational model of RNA folding to test both predictions and assumptions of the snowball model. In this model, two populations are allowed to evolve in allopatry on a holey fitness landscape. We find that the number of DMIs involving pairs of loci (i.e., simple DMIs) does not snowball—rather, it increases approximately linearly with divergence. We show that the probability of emergence of a simple DMI is approximately constant, as assumed by the snowball model. However, simple DMIs can disappear after they have arisen, contrary to the assumptions of the snowball model. This occurs because simple DMIs become complex (i.e., involve alleles at three or more loci) as a result of later substitutions. We introduce a modified snowball model—the melting snowball model—where simple DMIs can become complex after they appear. The melting snowball model can account for the results of the RNA folding model. We also find that complex DMIs are common and, unlike simple ones, do snowball. Reproductive isolation, however, does not snowball because DMIs do not act independently of each other. We conclude that the RNA folding model supports the central prediction of the snowball model that the number of DMIs snowballs, but challenges some of its underlying assumptions.


Cocoyam can be processed in several ways. It contains digestible starch, protein and other valuable nutrients. Consumption of cocoyam is very high all over Nigeria. This study was undertaken to determine the glycaemic response of diabetic and healthy subjects to equal amounts of carbohydrate in the form of boiled cocoyam with glucose serving as the reference food. Ten type 2 diabetic subjects and seven healthy subjects volunteered to participate in the study. Blood was taken before and after consumption of the food every 30 minutes until two and half hours. The blood glucose concentration peaked at two and one hour in the type 2 diabetic and healthy subjects, respectively. The glycaemic indexes in both groups were 81 and 80 while the glycaemic load was 40 and 40.5, respectively. Boiled cocoyam therefore is of high glycaemic index and should be combined with low glycaemic index food for it to be suitable for diabetic subjects. Sahel Medical Journal Vol. 11 (3) 2008: pp. 80-83


Abstract CH capsules, produced through glow discharge plasma coating, routinely suffer from surface defects including domes with gradually sloping sides and dust particles with sharp edges. Surface defects seed instabilities during implosion experiments on the National Ignition Facility and lead to radial jets, which increase mixing at the center of the implosion hindering the shell compression. Avoiding such defects requires characterizing the entire shell surface. In addition, the global position of the defects must be recorded in order to coordinate shot results with the initial surface perturbations. Further work was done to enable side-by-side comparison with optically acquired images to aid in capsule surface inspection throughout the capsule production process.


This introductory textbook discusses several areas where psychology has bearing on matters of the law. Among these are: questions of criminal responsibility, civil commitment, jury deliberations, the credibility of testimony, corrections, family law, juvenile justice, criminology, and police psychol


Abstract Despite antiretroviral therapy rollout in South Africa, fewer children than expected are accessing HIV care services. Our objectives were to describe barriers and facilitators of uptake of HIV care among children. Our study involved six private-sector clinics which provide HIV care free-of-charge in and around Gauteng province, South Africa. In-depth interviews were conducted in July 2008 with 21 caregivers of HIV-infected children attending these clinics, 21 clinic staff members and three lead members of staff from affiliated care centres. Many children were only tested for HIV after being recurrently unwell. The main facility-related barriers reported were long queues, negative staff attitudes, missed testing opportunities at healthcare facilities and provider difficulties with paediatric counselling and venesection. Caregivers reported lack of money for transport, food and treatments for opportunistic infections, poor access to welfare grants and lack of coordination amongst multiple caregivers. Misperceptions about HIV, maternal guilt and fear of negative repercussions from disclosure were common. Reported facilitators included measures implemented by clinics to help with transport, support from family and day-care centres/orphanages, and seeing children's health improve on treatment. Participants felt that better public knowledge about HIV would facilitate uptake. Poverty and the implications of children's HIV infection for their families underlie many of these factors. Some staff-related and practical issues may be addressed by improved training and simple measures employed at clinics. However, changing caregiver attitudes may require interventions at both individual and societal levels. Healthcare providers should actively promote HIV testing and care-seeking for children.


The Huntington disease (HD) mutation has been localized to human chromosome 4p16, in a 6-Mb region between the D4S10 locus and the 4p telomere. In a report by Robbins et al., a family was identified in which an affected individual failed to inherit three alleles within the 6-Mb region originating from the parental HD chromosome. To explain these results, it was suggested that the HD locus (HD) lies close to the telomere and that a recombination event took place between HD and the most telomeric marker examined, D4S90. As a test of this telomere hypothesis, we examined six members of this family, five of whom are affected with HD, for the segregation of 12 polymorphic markers from 4p16, including D4S169, which lies within 80 kb of the 4p telomere. We separated, in somatic cell hybrids, the chromosomes 4 from each family member, to determine the phase of marker alleles on each chromosome. We excluded nonpaternity by performing DNA fingerprint analyses on all six family members, and we found no evidence for chromosomal rearrangements when we used high-resolution karyotype analysis. We found that two affected siblings, including one of the patients originally described by Robbins et al., inherited alleles from the non-HD chromosome 4 of their affected parents, throughout the 6-Mb region. We found that a third affected sibling, also studied by Robbins et al., inherited alleles from the HD chromosome 4 of the affected parent, throughout the 6-Mb region. Finally, we found that a fourth sibling, who is likely affected with HD, has both a recombination event within the 6-Mb region and an additional recombination event in a more centromeric region of the short arm of chromosome 4. Our results argue against a telomeric location for HD and suggest that the HD mutation in this family is either associated with DNA predisposed to double recombination and/or gene conversion within the 6-Mb region or is in a gene that is outside this region and that is different from that mutated in most other families with HD.


Using global data for election predictions Assumptions underlying election result predictions have been questioned recently. Kennedy et al. assessed more than 650 executive office elections in over 85 countries and performed two live forecasting experiments. They analyzed a variety of potential predictors theorized to be of importance, ranging from economic performance to polling data. Elections were about 80 to 90% predictable, despite uncertainties with available data. Polling data were very important to successful prediction, although it was necessary to correct for systematic biases. Unexpectedly, economic indicators were only weakly predictive. As data sources improve and grow, predictive power is expected to increase. Science, this issue p. 515 Pooling data from global elections to build better models improves prediction. This study reports the results of a multiyear program to predict direct executive elections in a variety of countries from globally pooled data. We developed prediction models by means of an election data set covering 86 countries and more than 500 elections, and a separate data set with extensive polling data from 146 election rounds. We also participated in two live forecasting experiments. Our models correctly predicted 80 to 90% of elections in out-of-sample tests. The results suggest that global elections can be successfully modeled and that they are likely to become more predictable as more information becomes available in future elections. The results provide strong evidence for the impact of political institutions and incumbent advantage. They also provide evidence to support contentions about the importance of international linkage and aid. Direct evidence for economic indicators as predictors of election outcomes is relatively weak. The results suggest that, with some adjustments, global polling is a robust predictor of election outcomes, even in developing states. Implications of these findings after the latest U.S. presidential election are discussed.


Introduction to Mathcad 15, 3/e is ideal for Freshman or Introductory courses in Engineering and Computer Science. Introduces Mathcad's basic mathematical and data analysis functions (e.g., trigonometric, regression, and interpolation functions) using easy-to-follow examples, then applies the functions to examples drawn from emerging or rapidly developing fields in engineering. ESourcePrentice Hall's Engineering Sourceprovides a complete, flexible introductory engineering and computing program. ESource allows professors to fully customize their textbooks through the ESource website. Professors are not only able to pick and choose modules, but also sections of modules, incorporate their own materials, and re-paginate and re-index the complete project. prenhall.com/esource


Abstract This paper provides a theoretical rebalancing benchmark for trading volume that delivers a connection between trading activity in individual stocks and market-wide volume. This model supports the empirical use of an adjustment for market-wide trading activity when filtering out normal trading volume. Data on a sample of large NYSE/AMEX firms support the usefulness of the benchmark. While 20% of the sample firms exhibit trading behavior that is consistent with the cross-sectional prediction of the rebalancing benchmark, systematic deviations exist. An analysis of deviations from the benchmark allows a characterization of anomalous trading activity. I find that average excess turnover vs. the benchmark is positively related to option availability and institutional ownership and negatively related to firm size. The data do not yield a uniform conclusion on the effect of S&P 500 inclusion. S&P 500 inclusion does not significantly increase the trading of firms that are already trading above benchmark levels, but does result in additional trading for firms that undertrade the benchmark prior to inclusion. An investigation of individual firm market model regressions indicates that this is a useful methodology for filtering out the anomalous trading documented here.


Since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~ 20,000 years
ago) air temperatures warmed, sea level rose roughly 130 meters,
and atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide increased. This
thesis combines global models and paleoceanographic observations to
constrain the ocean's role in storing and transporting heat, salt,
and other tracers during this time, with implications for
understanding how the modem ocean works and how it might change in
the future.  – By combining a kinematic ocean model with "upstream"
and "downstream" deglacial oxygen isotope time series from benthic
and planktonic foraminifera, I show that the data are in agreement
with the modem circulation, quantify their power to infer
circulation changes, and propose new data locations.  – An ocean
general circulation model (the MITgcm) constrained to fit LGM sea
surface temperature proxy observations reveals colder ocean
temperatures, greater sea ice extent, and changes in ocean mixed
layer depth, and suggests that some features in the data are not
robust.  – A sensitivity analysis in the MITgcm demonstrates that
changes in winds or in ocean turbulent transport can explain the
hypothesis that the boundary between deep Atlantic waters
originating from Northern and Southern Hemispheres was shallower at
the LGM than it is today.


Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common health problem due to its high prevalence and high mortality rate. Adjuvant and neo-adjuvant strategies, chemotherapy and radiotherapy alone or in combination, have substantially improved survival and local recurrence rates. Their effectiveness remains limited due to the intrinsic build-up of resistance of cancer cells to chemotherapy drugs, dose-limiting toxicities and other major side effects. New strategies to overcome these issues are being developed, one of which is cancer nanomedicine, a rapidly developing interdisciplinary research field. The last few decades have seen a rapid growth of interest in utilising nanoparticles and nanotechnology in cancer medicine. This is mainly due to the suitable physical and chemical properties of nanoparticles for in vivo applications. Cancer nanomedicine for targeted drug delivery and imaging has been widely investigated preclinically and clinically. Nanomedicine has been considered as a novel solution to enhance CRC diagnosis and treatment, both separately and in combination using theranostic techniques. This review highlights the research, opportunities, and challenges for the development of nanoplatforms for diagnosing and treating CRC.


The northern boundary between the Nubian (West African) and Somalian (East African) plates is marked by the existence of the East African Rift, which is the locus of roughly east-west stretching due to the separation of these plates. South of ∼20°S, any expression of deformation or seismicity due to the relative motion of these two presumably distinct plates vanishes or is extremely subtle, although the boundary must continue until it intersects another plate boundary. Until recently, there were no observational limits on the location of that intersection, and the recent limits were very broad, being thousands of kilometers wide. Here, from an analysis of the locations of the old edge of magnetic anomaly 5 (which is over 11 Ma seafloor), we show that the main locus of deformation between Nubia and Somalia near the Southwest Indian Ridge over the past 11 m.y. can be no wider than a few hundred kilometers, from ∼100 km west of the Du Toit Fracture Zone to ∼50 km east of the Andrew Bain Fracture Zone complex. Deformation is most likely concentrated along a closely spaced set of several fracture zones known collectively as the Andrew Bain Fracture Zone complex, which is only ∼100 km wide. The displacement along the Nubia-Somalia boundary over the past 11 m.y. is 23 km ± 6 km (95% confidence limits), indicating a displacement rate of 2 mm/yr, much slower than typical rates of seafloor spreading and subduction, but comparable to that along the Owen fracture zone and Dalrymple trough, which separate the Arabian plate from the Indian plate, and along the Azores-Gibraltar line, which separates the Eurasian plate from the Nubian plate.


Achievements in the growth of ultra-pure III-V semiconductor materials using state of the art molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) machine has led to the discovery of new physics and technological innovations. High mobility two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) embedded in GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs heterostructures provides an unparalleled platform for many-body physics including fractional quantum Hall effect. On the other hand, single electron devices fabricated on modulation doped GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs heterostructures have been extensively used for fabrication of quantum devices such as spin qubit with application in quantum computing. Furthermore, epitaxial hybrid superconductor-semiconductor heterostructures with ultra clean superconductor-semiconductor interface have been grown using MBE technique to explore rare physical quantum state of the matter namely Majorana zero modes with non-abelian exchange statistics.Chapter 1 in the manuscript starts with description of GaAs MBE system at Purdue University and continues with the modifications have been made to MBE hardware and growth conditions for growing heterostrcutures with 2DEG mobility exceeding 35 × 106 cm−2/V s. Utilizing an ultra-high pure Ga source material and its further purification by thermal evaporation in the vacuum are determined to have major impact on growth of high mobility GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs heterostructures.Chapter 2 reports a systematic study on the effect of silicon doping density on low
frequency charge noise and conductance drift in laterally gated nanostructures fabricated on modulation doped GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs heterostructures grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). The primary result of this study is that both charge noise
and conductance drift are strongly impacted by the silicon doping used to create the
two-dimensional electron gas. These findings shed light on the physical origin of the
defect states responsible for charge noise and conductance drift. This is especially
significant for spin qubit devices, which require minimization of conductance drift
and charge noise for stable operation and good coherence.
Chapter 3 demonstrates measurements of the induced superconducting gap in
2D hybrid Al/Al0.15In0.85As/InAs heterostructures which is a promising platform for
scaling topological qubits based on Majorana zero modes. The 2DEG lies in an InAs
quantum well and is separated from the epitaxial Al layer by a barrier of Al0.15In0.85As
with thickness d. Due to hybridization between the wave functions of 2DEG and superconductor, the strength of induced gap in the 2DEG largely depends on the barrier
thickness. This chapter presents a systematic study of the strength of the induced
gap in hybrid Al/Al0.15In0.85As/InAs superconductor/semiconductor heterostructures
as a function of barrier thickness.


Self motion perception involves the integration of visual, vestibular, somatosensory and motor signals. This article reviews the findings from single unit electrophysiology, functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging and psychophysics to present an update on how the human and non-human primate brain integrates multisensory information to estimate one's position and motion in space. The results indicate that there is a network of regions in the non-human primate and human brain that processes self motion cues from the different sense modalities.


Nationally representative surveys of food intake in U.S. children show large increases in snacking between the 1989-91 to 1994-98 and 1994-98 to 2003-06 periods. Childhood snacking trends are moving toward three snacks per day, and more than 27 percent of children's daily calories are coming from snacks. The largest increases have been in salty snacks and candy. Desserts and sweetened beverages remain the major sources of calories from snacks.


We present a comprehensive study of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) of 10 eV to 2.5 keV from the downwind hemisphere of the heliosphere. These ENAs are believed to originate mostly from pickup protons and solar-wind protons in the inner heliosheath. This study includes all low-energy observations made with the Interstellar Boundary Explorer over the first eight years. Because the protons around 0.1 keV dominate the plasma pressure within the inner heliosheath in downwind direction, these ENA observations offer the unique opportunity to constrain the plasma properties and dimensions of the heliosheath where no in situ observations are available. We first derive energy spectra of ENA intensities averaged over time for 49 macropixels covering the entire downwind hemisphere. The results confirm previous studies regarding integral intensities and the roll-over around 0.1 keV energy. With the expanded data set, we now find that ENA intensities at 0.2 and 0.1 keV seem to anti-correlate with solar activity. We then derive the product of total plasma pressure and emission thickness of protons in the heliosheath to estimate lower limits on the thickness of the inner heliosheath. The temporally averaged ENA intensities support a rather spherical shape of the termination shock and a heliosheath thickness between 150 and 210 au for most regions of the downwind hemisphere. Around the nominal downwind direction of 76° ecliptic longitude, the heliosheath is at least 280 au thick. There, the neutral hydrogen density seems to be depleted compared to upwind directions by roughly a factor of 2.


Sustainability has become the key goal in every aspect of the environment especially in the diverse urban systems. Sustainable practices require a controlled setting within an urban system where their practicality and efficacy could be assessed. The aim of the thesis is to establish an environmental assessment tool based on urban metabolism approach to assist decision-making during environmental and economic assessment. The outcome provides understanding on the means of integrating carbon footprint and monetary factor to oversee the expenditure of a nation in general, or a household or an individual in particular, in relation to global warming potential. This study applied a retrospective cross sectional study to provide a form of environmental assessment in developing economic-environmental input-output model for greenhouse gases emission monitoring and climate change adaptation. Methodologically, the potential impact from economic sectors' contribution on greenhouse gas emissions which eventually leads to global warming and climate change was quantitatively assessed. Firstly, the contribution of greenhouse gas emission from each economic activity was examined. Secondly, the association of greenhouse gas emissions with gross output value from each economic activity was assessed to ascertain the greenhouse gas intensity. Finally, a preliminary environmental-economic input-output tool were developed for potential global warming forecasting assessment and improving the surveillance system of each target economic sector concerning climate change. The input-output analysis method development found that Barcelona with 14 economic sectors has carbon dioxide emission to be 24.44 kg CO2- eq./cap/day. The method adaptation to Malaysia resulted with greenhouse gas emission of all 120 economic activities with 4.87 kg CO2- eq./cap/day. Greenhouse gases from waste management was not captured in the input-output matrices. The waste management section was managed but the introduction to Material Flow Analysis approach which resulted with 4.5 kg/capita/ day of solid waste for Klang Valley. The economic input-output model o f a nation or region is an analytical tool that describes the structure of one nation or region's economy. A derived matrix from the economic input-output table is expanded to express global warming potential which describes its total global warming impact relative to carbon dioxide emission over a set period of time. The estimation of carbon footprint from monetary fluxes is vital in the environmental health impact assessment as sustainable urban planning and sustainable economy are complimentary of one another. This study contributes to quantitatively analyse the physical input-output relationships among the socioeconomic components with the findings on the distribution of environmental impacts, thereby providing scientific model support to guide restructuring of metabolic system especially urban metabolic system. The use of publicly available data to assemble the matrix representation enables comprehensive assessment of the environmental impacts of a product or service with effective cost, in a relatively fast and high-technology manner.


ABSTRACT This paper stems from research in Australia examining pre-service teacher and mentor teacher experiences on the practicum. The paper focuses on findings from the research, highlighting the tendency among the pre-service teachers to either valorise or demonise their mentor teachers, reflective of what we describe, following Kristeva and Britzman, as their powerful need to believe. The paper draws on psychoanalytic theory in order gain insights into this process, viewing the pre-service teachers' accounts of their mentors as fantasies that serve a stabilising function in order to manage the intense emotional demands of schools and classrooms. The paper concludes with considerations of how teacher educators might ameliorate the ideality of novice teachers, reflecting the insistence of the imaginary, and hence enable them to benefit more from the practicum experience. We briefly suggest the use of tools that work within the symbolic register to exercise a mediating role in the context of these intense demands.


The dissertation investigates the informativeness of insider trading. Two primary questions are addressed. The first question is, are insider stock transactions informative of future stock price movements? An event study approach and an ex-post regression model are employed to examine the short-term market response to insider stock transactions traded at different levels of past stock performance based on insider trading data over the period 1996 to 2013. The dissertation is the first study to identify an "insider smile" suggesting that stock purchases by insiders earn greater abnormal returns following significant decreases and increases in stock prices; however, insiders earn only small abnormal returns from their stock purchases following small changes in stock prices. The results support that insiders are both contrarian investors and possessors of superior information about firm's future stock price movements. Also, insiders in firms with higher levels of information uncertainty (smaller firm size and higher stock volatility) tend to earn greater abnormal returns from their stock purchases. The second question is, does enterprise risk management have effects on abnormal returns of insider trading? On the one hand, insiders in a firm with an ERM program are assumed to have better knowledge about operations and risks of the firm; thus, these insider stock transactions would earn greater abnormal returns. On the other hand, an ERM program may reduce information uncertainty of a firm and information asymmetry between insiders and outside investors. In this case, insiders in ERM firms would earn smaller abnormal returns from their stock transactions than insiders in non-ERM firms. The results show some evidence that ERM has negative (positive) effects on abnormal returns of insider stock purchases (sales) particularly for firms with higher levels of information uncertainty, which supports that an ERM program can benefit a firm from reducing information asymmetry between insiders and outside


A DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS IN NORTH CAROLINA by Merrell Jenkins Riddle The purpose of this study was to analyze the charac teristics of school board members in the public school systems of North Carolina in order to obtain a profile of the typical board member and compile the suggested qualifi cations as a basis for possible change in the legal requirements for membership on local boards of education. A researcher-designed questionnaire was mailed to all school board members in North Carolina. Responses were received from 309 board members, A descriptive profile of board of education members in the public school systems of North Carolina was developed; determination of legal requirements for board membership was made; and a list of desirable qualifications for board membership as identified by board members was compiled. In testing for significant differences between county boards and city boards, it was concluded that the city board members have a higher level of education, higher income, and are more likely to be members of a minority group than county board members. County board members have lived longer in the community than city board members. There was no significant difference between the number of male and female board members with children in the school system. Recommendations based on the findings suggested that additional study be conducted, utilizing a forced-type of questionnaire.


The susceptibility of plants to herbivores can be strongly influenced by the identity, morphology and palatability of neighboring plants. While the defensive traits of neighbors often determine the mechanism and strength of associational resistance and susceptibility, the effect of neighbors on plant defense phenotype remains poorly understood. We used field surveys and a prickle-removal experiment in a semi-arid Kenyan savanna to evaluate the efficacy of physical defenses against large mammalian herbivores in a common understory plant, Solanum campylacanthum. We then quantified the respective effects of spinescent Acacia trees and short-statured grasses on browsing damage and prickle density in S. campylacanthum. We paired measurements of prickle density beneath and outside tree canopies with long-term herbivoreexclusion experiments to evaluate whether associational resistance reduced defense investment by decreasing browsing damage. Likewise, we compared defense phenotype within and outside pre-existing and experimentally created clearings to determine whether grass neighbors increased defense investment via associational susceptibility. Removing prickles increased the frequency of browsing by ~25%, and surveys of herbivory damage on defended leaves suggested that herbivores tended to avoid prickles. As predicted, associational resistance and susceptibility had opposing effects on plant phenotype: individuals growing beneath Acacia canopies (or, analogously, within large-herbivore exclosures) had a significantly lower proportion of their leaves browsed and produced ~ 70–80% fewer prickles than those outside refuges, whereas plants in grass-dominated clearings were more heavily browsed and produced nearly twice as many prickles as plants outside clearings. Our results demonstrate that associational resistance and susceptibility have strong, but opposing, effects on plant defense phenotype, and that variable herbivore damage is a major source of intraspecific variation in defense phenotype in this system.


It is now twenty years since Richard Snyder and two associates published a monograph presenting their "framework" for studying international relations as foreign policy decision-making. The basic assumptions of this approach have become an indispensable part of the study of international relations. No-one would now think of ignoring the important processes by which groups of leaders formulate and choose among policy alternatives. Yet the approach itself has been relegated to subsections of surveys of the field, or dismissive footnotes. Although James Rosenau's influential anthology, International Relations and Foreign Policy, still retains three "decision-making" selections in its most recent edition, Rosenau himself pronounced a respectful epitaph for this approach some years ago. Glenn Paige's initial, massive study of the United States' intervention in Korea has had no successors.


"From Identity Politics to Ideology Politics" begins by arguing that "identity politics" – i.e., activism by identity groups such as African Americans, women, gays, etc. – can be harmful. By using identity as a proxy for ideology, identity politics makes incorrect presumptions. It presumes, for example, that all African Americans favor affirmative action, all women are pro-choice, and all gays favor same-sex marriage. Such presumptions chill individual autonomy and distort public forum debate. Despite these harms, identity politics is supported and even encouraged by the Supreme Court's equal protection doctrine. Identity groups are, indeed, the structuring concept behind the doctrine's "suspect classes" and "suspect classifications." The article therefore argues for an abandonment of the existing doctrine, based on critiques from pragmatism, structuralism, and originalism, and the introduction of a new doctrine that would usher in a new regime of "ideology politics." Ideology politics, by allowing individuals to independently affiliate with both identity and ideology groups, would increase individual autonomy and improve public forum debate.


Shannon's diversity index H' = Σpi log2 pi was calculated for 267 breeding bird censuses. The index was resolved into its components, species richness and relative abundance, to determine which components played a larger role in the determination of diversity patterns. Changes in diversity were correlated closely with species richness (r = 0.972), while the relative abundance component remained stable. Among the nine community types represented, diversity and species richness increased with foliage height diversity. The relatively abundance component was strikingly low in the marshes due to the presence of gregarious birds which nest in colonies and feed outside the community. Photoplankton differ from birds in that the relative abundance component is not stable from one collection to the next. This is attributed to differences in the environmental uncertainty encountered by the two groups, plankton inhabiting relatively uncertain environments and being "opportunistic," while birds occupy predictable environments and therefore "equilibrium" species. The distribution of relative abundances in birds is more even than in trees, herbaceous—shrub communities, or phytoplankton. Since this is in part the result of intraspecific territoriality, it is predicted that nonbreeding bird populations, species' relative abundances will be less even than they are during the breeding season. It is suggested that the regulation of diversity by either the species richness or relative abundance components represent alternative strategies which are suited to predictable/nonrigorous and unpredictable/rigorous environments, respectively. Therefore, differences similar to those observed between birds and phytoplankton might be expected in other groups of organisms.


This performance-based research correlates three fundamental compositional parameters of Romanian composer Livia Teodorescu-Ciocanea's work – timbre, texture and structure – with a set of performance guidelines resulting from Smolyar's pianistic experience. Smolyar has intensively examined the timbral nuances that the pianoforte is able to achieve through an examination of the underlying structure and texture of Teodorescu-Ciocănea's music, which is structured along spectralist lines and the composer's innovative concept of 'hypertimbralism'. The research aims to identify the role of timbre in the creation of musical meaning for each performance situation via score analysis and interpretative approaches depending on the physical requirements of playing the piano.


We theoretically explore atomic Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to position-dependent spin–orbit coupling (SOC). This SOC can be produced by cyclically laser coupling four internal atomic ground (or metastable) states in an environment where the detuning from resonance depends on position. The resulting spin–orbit coupled BEC (SOBEC) phase separates into domains, each of which contain density modulations—stripes—aligned either along the x or y direction. In each domain, the stripe orientation is determined by the sign of the local detuning. When these stripes have mismatched spatial periods along domain boundaries, non-trivial topological spin textures form at the interface, including skyrmions-like spin vortices and anti-vortices. In contrast to vortices present in conventional rotating BECs, these spin-vortices are stable topological defects that are not present in the corresponding homogenous stripe-phase SOBECs.


Purpose: There is an abundance of available concussion education programs for parents of youth ice hockey players. Parents play a vital role in recognizing signs and symptoms of a concussion sustained by a child, and therefore their knowledge and retention of such information is deemed to be very important. The purpose of the pilot survey is identify the general knowledge parents of youth ice hockey players possess regarding concussion. Methods: A survey of a sample of convenience was utilized. Forty-five parents (40 to 49 years of age) of youth ice hockey players were asked to complete a one-page survey to assess their knowledge of concussion. The ages of their children ranged from seven through ten, and all parents were recruited to participate while attending a team practice session at a local ice hockey arena. Results: Parents generally were aware of common concussion related symptoms (headache 98%, difficulty with concentrating 96%, mental confusion 91%, vomiting 91%, sensitivity to light 91%, and blurred vision 82%) while not so familiar with symptoms such as tinnitus (62%) and agitated behaviors (47%). Fifty percent of those surveyed were unaware if their youth hockey organization had a concussion policy. Conclusion: Parents of youth ice hockey players seem to fail to retain information learned from concussion education programs. Barriers to learning retention may include the ages of the youth participating, the abundance of informal and inconsistent information that is available, and the lack of organizational administration of concussion education programs. Parents appear to be receptive to receiving more information regarding the safety of their children. Parental recognition of the signs and symptoms of a concussion sustained while playing youth ice hockey may lead to more appropriate and timely management of the injury.


This paper addresses two important issues in causality inference. One is how to reduce redundant conditional independence (CI) tests, which heavily impact the efficiency and accuracy of existing constraint-based methods. Another is how to construct the true causal graph from a set of Markov equivalence classes returned by these methods.For the first issue, we design a recursive decomposition approach where the original data (a set of variables) is first decomposed into three small subsets, each of which is then recursively decomposed into three smaller subsets until none of subsets can be decomposed further. Consequently, redundant CI tests can be reduced by inferring causality from these subsets. Advantage of this decomposition scheme lies in two aspects: 1) it requires only low-order CI tests, and 2) it does not violate d-separation. Thus, the complete causality can be reconstructed by merging all the partial results of the subsets.For the second issue, we employ regression-based conditional independence test to check CIs in linear non-Gaussian additive noise cases, which can identify more causal directions by x−E(x|Z)⊥z (or y−E(y|Z)⊥z). Therefore, causal direction learning is no longer limited by the number of returned Vstructures and the consistent propagation.Extensive experiments show that the proposed method can not only substantially reduce redundant CI tests but also effectively distinguish the equivalence classes, thus is superior to the state of the art constraint-based methods in causality inference.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of age, gender, and various comedications on the pharmacokinetics of quetiapine in a naturalistic setting.

METHOD
In total, 2111 serum samples analyzed for quetiapine during the period from June 2001 to December 2004 were included in the study. The samples had been collected for routine therapeutic drug monitoring purposes from 1179 patients treated with quetiapine. A log-linear mixed model was used to identify factors influencing the dose-corrected quetiapine serum concentration, expressed as the quetiapine concentration-to-dose (C/D) ratio. Variables included in the analysis were age, gender, and concomitant treatment with a total of 41 drugs most often used in combination with quetiapine.

RESULTS
Age >or= 70 years (p = .001) and comedication with alimemazine (p = .002), fluvoxamine (p = .001), citalopram/escitalopram (p = .041), or clozapine (p < .001) significantly increased the serum concentrations of quetiapine, while age < 18 years (p = .044) and comedication with lamotrigine (p = .024), levomepromazine (p = .011), oxazepam (p < .001), or carbamazepine (p < .001) significantly decreased the serum concentrations. The effects were most pronounced for fluvoxamine (+159%), clozapine (+82%), age >or= 70 years (+67%), and carbamaze-pine (-86%). In 18% of the samples, the daily dose exceeded the currently recommended maximum of 800 mg/day.

CONCLUSION
Due to the increased serum levels of quetiapine, a lower dose than usual should be considered when quetiapine is administered to elderly patients and to patients comedicated with clozapine or fluvoxamine. As the inducing effect of carbamazepine on quetiapine metabolism is very potent, cotreatment with carbamazepine cannot be recommended. On the basis of our data and pharmacokinetic considerations, the majority of drugs commonly used in psychiatry can safely be given in combination with quetiapine.


At present in the digitalization era, online transactions continue to grow as well as digital signatures are becoming known to the public. Renewal of research and improvements continues to be made to improve the implementation of digital signatures in Indonesia. There needs to be research to find out the differences between the providers of electronic certificates that are developing in Indonesia. Digital signatures are expected to be able to simplify the administrative process and be implemented properly at Perum LKBN Antara. The application of digital signatures is protected by Ministerial Regulation No. 11 of 2018 and Government Regulation No. 82 of 2012 concerning the implementation of systems and electronic transactions (PSTE). In this study using the SWOT analysis (Standard, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat) as a problem solving method. There are 4 criteria assessed, namely the ease, security, work system and speed of the system category. In-depth discussion using the privyID application system. The application of using privyID is classified as good at Perum LKBN Antara.


In addition to mediating T cell receptor signaling at the plasma membrane, the adaptor protein SLP-76 is required for optimal nuclear entry of transcription factors. Antigen binding to the T cell receptor (TCR) stimulates the accumulation of signaling components, including kinases and adaptor proteins, at the intracellular face of the plasma membrane to activate T cells. The adaptor protein SLP-76 [Src homology 2 (SH2) domain–containing leukocyte protein of 76 kD] is required for phospholipase Cγ1 activation and Ca2+ mobilization; thus, SLP-76–deficient T cells show impaired activation. Liu et al. found that SLP-76 provides a second contribution to T cell activation at the nucleus. Confocal microscopy showed that TCR stimulation of mouse T cells resulted in the colocalization of SLP-76 and a SUMOylated form of the guanine nucleotide triphosphatase (GTPase)–activating protein RanGAP1 in cytoplasmic filaments of the nuclear pore complex. Both RanGAP1 and the GTPase Ran are required for the import of proteins from the cytosol into the nucleus. Coimmunoprecipitation experiments showed that maximal binding of SLP-76 to RanGAP1 occurred 10 to 20 minutes after TCR stimulation. Mutagenesis studies showed that mutation of Lys56 to alanine (K56E) in the N-terminal region of SLP-76 blocked its interaction with RanGAP1 but had no effect on TCR signaling events at the plasma membrane. The transcription factors NFATc1 and NF-κB are required for the expression of genes whose products are important for T cell activation. Whereas TCR stimulation of SLP-76–deficient J14 T cells in which wild-type SLP-76 was overexpressed resulted in efficient nuclear translocation of fluorescently tagged forms of NFATc1 and NF-κB, TCR stimulation of J14 cells expressing SLP-76 K56E exhibited impaired nuclear import of both transcription factors. Last, when T cells overexpressing either wild-type or K56E SLP-76 were injected into mice, exposed to antigen, recovered from the mice, and then restimulated with antigen in vitro, the cells expressing K56E SLP-76 showed a defective proliferative response. Together, these data suggest that in addition to mediating TCR-proximal signaling at the plasma membrane, SLP-76 further contributes to T cell activation by facilitating the import of critical transcription factors into the nucleus. H. Liu, H. Schneider, A. Recino, C. Richardson, M. W. Goldberg, C. E. Rudd, The immune adaptor SLP-76 binds to SUMO-RANGAP1 at nuclear pore complex filaments to regulate nuclear import of transcription factors in T cells. Mol. Cell 59, 840–849 (2015). [PubMed]