The Korea National Information Center for the 3Rs was established in August 2011, to enhance humane science and animal welfare in Korea. It is a national Three Rs platform, with the goal of exchanging knowledge and sharing examples of best practice, in order to help replace laboratory animal use in education and training. This paper briefly summarises the progress made and the challenges that have become apparent during the initial operation of the collaborative project. There is a need to recognise and manage the challenges resulting from policy changes, especially misinterpretation of the objectives by the decision makers at the participating academic institutions and the government. The collective power of this type of collaborative project can be used to leverage an ongoing commitment to essentials such as consistent funding for operational and support staff, as well as allocation of the required space.


It has often been said that one of the most remarkable features of international law and relations since the end of the Cold War has been the rapid multiplication of international institutions controlling implementation of international law and/or settling disputes arising out of its interpretation and implementation. Yet, the sheer dimensions of the phenomenon, with well over 142 bodies and procedures, has defied many attempts to comprehensively map this fast growing sector of international relations.This article has three aims. The first is limited. First, it updates previous classifications of international courts and tribunals and dispute settlement bodies. The second aim is a bit more ambitious. It is time to revise some of the categories and criteria of classification commonly employed in the field. More than a decade of scholarship in the field by legal scholars and political scientists has made it possible to gain a better understanding of the phenomenon. The abundance of data over a sufficiently long time-span is making it possible to start moving away from a mere "folk taxonomy" towards a more rigorous scientific classification. The hallmark of truly scientific classifications is that classifying is only the final step of a process, and a classification only the means to communicate the end results. Besides making it possible to discover and describe, scientific classifications crucially enable prediction of new entities and categories. Thus, the third aim of this article is to attempt to discern some trends and make some predictions about future developments in this increasingly relevant field of international law and relations.


This thesis endeavors to present a literary-historical analysis of a seventeenth century work of prose, Habnâme, which was written by one of the prominent literary figures of his time, Veysi. He was born in Alasehir in 1561/2, and died in 1628 in Skopje. Having been enrolled in medrese education, he worked as a kadi in various locations in both Anatolia and Rumeli including Alasehir, Tire, Serez and Skopje. He is, however, better known for his literary abilities, and respected by both contemporary biographers and modern scholars as one of the leading figures of Ottoman ornamental prose. In his Habnâme, Veysi constructs a dream setting, in which the Alexander the Two-Horned has a conversation with Ahmed I regarding Ahmed's concerns of the abuses in state apparatus. It is, thus, considered as an example of the Ottoman mirror for princes genre. Yet the text has some considerable deviations from other treatises, for it a) unequivocally fictionalizes the content through 'dream' fashion, b) contravenes the "Golden Age" rhetoric by making Alexander the Great say that abuses were not peculiar to Ahmed's reign, they have been always there from the beginning. With this regard, the text serves as a consolation rather than a counsel. Habnâme of Veysi is equally important for its special literary quality of using dream as a frame for the narrative. While attempting to understand his choice, various dimensions should be taken into consideration. Firstly, Veysi's possible familiarity with Islamic dream paradigms needs to be explained. Furthermore, the layers of correspondences between Veysi's Habnâme and alike pieces from subsequent periods such as the works of Hasmeti, Ziya Pasa, Namik Kemal or Ruseni should be emphasized. With all these regards, the following study aims to: 1) question the position of Habnâme of Veysi within the Ottoman mirror for princes literature through exploring the intertextuality between Habnâme and contemporary mirrors by taking into consideration the literary ecology (i.e. the audience, reception, authorial intentions) and/or political-cultural context in which the text was produced, 2) contextualize the text within a broader plane of Islamic dream lore in order to answer "Why might Veysi have created such a dream setting?" and/or "In what ways did this dream apparatus enable him in expressing his views?", 3) through benefiting from the debates on the dream-vision genre of medieval European literature, to scrutinize the continuity within the tradition of composing dream-framed accounts in the Ottoman literature, and hereby question the validity of a new literary genre.


To ensure accountability and mitigate harm, it is critical that diverse stakeholders can interrogate black-box automated systems and find information that is understandable, relevant, and useful to them. In this paper, we eschew prior expertise- and role-based categorizations of interpretability stakeholders in favor of a more granular framework that decouples stakeholders' knowledge from their interpretability needs. We characterize stakeholders by their formal, instrumental, and personal knowledge and how it manifests in the contexts of machine learning, the data domain, and the general milieu. We additionally distill a hierarchical typology of stakeholder needs that distinguishes higher-level domain goals from lower-level interpretability tasks. In assessing the descriptive, evaluative, and generative powers of our framework, we find our more nuanced treatment of stakeholders reveals gaps and opportunities in the interpretability literature, adds precision to the design and comparison of user studies, and facilitates a more reflexive approach to conducting this research.


This paper draws on the Algerian regimes of Chadli Benjedid and Abdelaziz Bouteflika to critically evaluate Steven Levitsky and Lucan Way's dimension of linkage. The paper shows that, despite the intensification of the country's ties to the European Union (EU) from one regime to the other, the willingness and ability of Brussels to put democratising pressure on Algiers decreased rather than increased. This development challenges Levitsky and Way's thesis and the importance they place on linkage in relation to their other dimensions of leverage and organisational power. The paper concludes that: strengthening linkage does not always result in greater EU or Western democratising pressure; and, the balance of importance Levitsky and Way strike between their dimensions is open to question.


This volume collects most of the writings published by the accomplished Cherokee leader Elias Boudinot (1804?-1839). Founding editor of the Cherokee Phoenix, Boudinot is the most ambiguous and puzzling figure in Cherokee history. Although he first struggled against the removal of his people from their native Southeast, Boudinot later reversed his position and signed the Treaty of New Echota, an action that cost him his life. Together with Theda Perdue's biographical introduction and in-depth annotations, these letters, articles, pamphlets, and editorials document the stages of Boudinot's religious, philosophical, and political growth, from his early optimism that the Cherokees could completely assimilate into white society to his call for a separate nation of "civilized" Cherokees.


While anecdotal reports suggest that Night Vision Goggles influence spatial navigation and wayfinding (Braithwaite, Douglass, Durnford, and Lucas, 1998), few studies have systematically characterized the nature of these effects. To address this issue, the current study examined the impact of NVGs on navigation and wayfinding performance. One group of participants were required to navigate a walking maze and retrieve target objects while wearing NVGs (experimental condition), while a second control group navigated the maze without NVGs. We measured several performance metrics of navigation and wayfinding. Our results show that navigation and wayfinding with NVGs (experimental group) appeared to be harder, with longer navigation durations and more navigational errors compared to not using NVGs (control group). However, a significant decrease in navigation duration over the course of the wayfinding trials occurred earlier with NVGs, in addition to significant decreases in navigational steps compared to the control group. These results support the notion that NVGs directly affect spatial navigation and wayfinding performance. These degradations in performance should be considered in operational planning and NVG training programs. Further research is necessary to expand our understanding of the impact of NVGs on spatial cognition.


The present study intends to discuss reflexive design thinking in architecture with respect to the interactions between three main dimensions and with the aim to disclose the interrogative considerations in architecture; the identical features, in various actions and contexts. The main objective is to uncover new connections and new potentials that are equally essential in architectural thinking, the inquiry through theory construction and the connection to practice, as well as the basic attitude of initiating thinking on iterative possibilities.Within this scope, the present study develops a reflexive design approach in architecture, by layering the theoretical and practical dimensions, taking creative generation and transformation into consideration. Accordingly, the whole structure of the value systems is accepted as reflexive architectural thinking that is formed by three dimensions: Architect, Action, Artifact. These contents, accepted as the main subjects of research approach, are each evaluated in the light of knowledge systems and conditions. The present study utilizes this research perspective in order to analyze and discuss the basic dimensions of design thinking in a reflexive way, through presenting a discourse on its meanings, context and contents. Therefore, the present study an attempt in architectural design-based research to develop a reflexive methodology for re-interpreting and re-formulating the relation between theory and practice.


The International Long-Term Ecological Research (ILTER) network comprises > 600 scientific groups conducting site-based research within 40 countries. Its mission includes improving the understanding of global ecosystems and informs solutions to current and future environmental problems at the global scales. The ILTER network covers a wide range of social-ecological conditions and is aligned with the Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS) goals and approach. Our aim is to examine and develop the conceptual basis for proposed collaboration between ILTER and PECS. We describe how a coordinated effort of several contrasting LTER site-based research groups contributes to the understanding of how policies and technologies drive either toward or away from the sustainable delivery of ecosystem services. This effort is based on three tenets: transdisciplinary research; cross-scale interactions and subsequent dynamics; and an ecological stewardship orientation. The overarching goal is to design management practices taking into account trade-offs between using and conserving ecosystems toward more sustainable solutions. To that end, we propose a conceptual approach linking ecosystem integrity, ecosystem services, and stakeholder well-being, and as a way to analyze trade-offs among ecosystem services inherent in diverse management options. We also outline our methodological approach that includes: (i) monitoring and synthesis activities following spatial and temporal trends and changes on each site and by documenting cross-scale interactions; (ii) developing analytical tools for integration; (iii) promoting trans-site comparison; and (iv) developing conceptual tools to design adequate policies and management interventions to deal with trade-offs. Finally, we highlight the heterogeneity in the social-ecological setting encountered in a subset of 15 ILTER sites. These study cases are diverse enough to provide a broad cross-section of contrasting ecosystems with different policy and management drivers of ecosystem conversion; distinct trends of biodiversity change; different stakeholders' preferences for ecosystem services; and diverse components of well-being issues.


The dynamic interaction between the androgen receptor (AR) and steroid receptor coactivator-1 (SRC-1) was explored in living cells expressing chimeric forms of the receptor and the coactivator containing two spectral variants of jellyfish fluorescent protein. Laser scanning confocal imaging of transfected cells expressing fluorescently labeled SRC-1 revealed that in an unsynchronized cell population, the coactivator is distributed in approximately 40% cells as nuclear bodies of 0.2-1.0 microm in diameter. Immunostaining of cyan fluorescent protein-labeled SRC-1 (CFP-SRC1)-expressing cells with antibody to promyelocytic leukemia (PML) protein showed significant overlap of the CFP fluorescence with the antibody stain. Cotransfection of cells with a plasmid expressing the CFP conjugate of Sp100 (another marker protein for the PML nuclear body) also showed colocalization of the yellow fluorescent protein (YFP)-SRC1 containing nuclear foci with the PML bodies in living cells. Analysis of the three-dimensional structure revealed that the PML bodies are round to elliptical in shape with multiple satellite bodies on their surface. Some of these satellite bodies contain the SRC-1. Activation and nuclear import of CFP-AR by the agonistic ligand 5alpha-dihydrotestosterone, but not by the antagonist casodex, transferred YFP-SRC1 from the PML bodies to an interlacing filamentous structure. In a single living cell, agonist-activated AR caused a time-dependent movement of YFP-SRC1 from the PML bodies to this filamentous structure. Additionally, coexpression of a constitutively active mutant of AR (AR-deltaligand binding domain) also displaced YFP-SRC1 from the PML bodies to this intranuclear filamentous structure. The fluorescence recovery after photobleaching approach was used to examine changes in the kinetics of movement of YFP-SRC1 during its mobilization from the PML bodies to the intranuclear filamentous structure by the agonist-activated AR. Results of the relative half-times (t(1/2)) of replacement of YFP-SRC1 within the photobleached region of a single PML body from its surrounding nuclear space supported the conclusion that SRC-1 is actively transported from the PML bodies to the intranuclear filamentous structure by the ligand-activated AR. This observation also suggests an interaction between AR and SRC-1 before its binding to the target gene. The PML bodies have been implicated as a cross-road for multiple regulatory pathways that control cell proliferation, cellular senescence, and apoptosis. Our present results along with other recent reports expand the role of this subnuclear structure to include the regulation of steroid hormone action.


Escherichia coli type 1 fimbriae contain in association with the major structural protein a lectin-like adhesin moiety that mediates attachment of E. coli to mannose-containing receptors on the surface of host cells. We have investigated the lymphocyte mitogenic activity of this mannose-specific adhesin by comparing the ability of purified wild type type 1 fimbriae containing the adhesin and mutant type 1 fimbriae lacking the adhesin to stimulate proliferation in human lymphocytes. Both fimbriae stimulated a peak of proliferation at 8 days whereas only the wild type fimbriae stimulated an additional peak of proliferation occurring at 3 days. Proliferation at 3 days but not at 8 days could be blocked by the addition of alpha-methyl-D-mannoside. Neonatal lymphocytes from umbilical cord blood responded to both wild type and mutant fimbriae in a fashion similar to adult cells. Stimulation of separated T and non-T cell populations indicated that the proliferation seen at 3 days was solely due to non-T cells whereas the 8-day response was due to T cell proliferation. The addition of gamma-irradiated T cells did not appear to enhance the 3-day response of the non-T cells. However, the 8-day response by T cells was dependent on the presence of gamma-irradiated non-T cells. In cultures of unseparated cells, wild type fimbriae stimulated more than 75% of the B cells to enter the S and G2 phase at 3 days whereas at 8 days cycling T cells were present in both wild type and mutant fimbriae-stimulated cultures. Taken together, our observations suggest that the adhesin molecule stimulates a polyclonal mitogenic response in B cells that peaks at 3 days, and other structural components of the fimbriae are responsible for evoking an 8-day (probably immune) response in T cells.


This paper deals with the problem of merging descriptions of approximate spatial location specified at different levels of granularity. We distinguish between the roughness of an approximation at a given level of granularity and the indeterminacy that arises when approximations are transformed from one level of granularity to another. Indeterminacy arises in particular when an approximation is transformed (lifted) to a finer level of granularity and when a approximation in a gappy level of granularity (e.g., a map with 'white spaces' of unknown territories) is transformed (generalized) to a coarser level of granularity.


This book focuses on the study of the remarkable new source of geographic information that has become available in the form of usergenerated content accessible over the Internet through mobile and Web applications. The exploitation, integration and application of these sources, termed volunteered geographic information (VGI) or crowdsourced geographic information (CGI), offer scientists an unprecedented opportunity to conduct research on a variety of topics at multiple scales and for diversified objectives. The Handbook is organized in five parts, addressing the fundamental questions: What motivates citizens to provide such information in the public domain, and what factors govern/predict its validity? What methods might be used to validate such information? Can VGI be framed within the larger domain of sensor networks, in which inert and static sensors are replaced or combined by intelligent and mobile humans equipped with sensing devices? What limitations are imposed on VGI by differential access to broadband Internet, mobile phones, and other communication technologies, and by concerns over privacy? How do VGI and crowdsourcing enable innovation applications to benefit human society? Chapters examine how crowdsourcing techniques and methods, and the VGI phenomenon, have motivated a multidisciplinary research community to identify both fields of applications and quality criteria depending on the use of VGI. Besides harvesting tools and storage of these data, research has paid remarkable attention to these information resources, in an age when information and participation is one of the most important drivers of development. The collection opens questions and points to new research directions in addition to the findings that each of the authors demonstrates. Despite rapid progress in VGI research, this Handbook also shows that there are technical, social, political and methodological challenges that require further studies and research.


Background: Identification of an individual is a pre-requisite for certification of death and for personal, social and legal reasons. The study of lip-prints (cheiloscopy) was thought of as a method of identification of a person. It is safe to assume that cheiloscopy, in its present stage of development, has become a means of criminalistic identification dealing with lip-prints. Objective: The objective of the study was to check for any peculiar lip patterns in relation to the sex of the individual and determine the most common lip patterns in the Indian population. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 140 subjects, which included 70 males and 70 females, in the age group of 0-70 years. After applying lip stick evenly, the lip-print of each subject was obtained on a simple bond paper by researcher number 1. The lip-print was then analyzed and interpreted by researcher number 2 to determine the sex of individuals. Results: We found that 67 of the actual 70 lip-prints of females were correctly identified and 65 of the 70 males were correctly diagnosed as males. Type C (47.14%) was the most commonly occurring trend in females whereas Type B (70%) was the most commonly occurring trend in males. Conclusion: Along with other traditional methods, cheiloscopy can also serve as very important tool in the identification of a person based on the characteristic arrangement of lines appearing on the red part of the lips.


This brief argues that charter school programs can have direct fiscal impacts on school districts for two reasons. First, operating two systems of public schools under separate governance arrangements can create excess costs. Second, charter school financing policies can distribute resources to or away from districts. Using the city school districts of Albany and Buffalo in New York, we demonstrate how fiscal impacts on local school districts can be estimated. We find that charter schools have had fiscal impacts on these two school districts. Finally, we argue that charter schools policies should seek to minimize any avoidable excess costs created by charter schools and ensure that the burden of any unavoidable excess costs is equitably distributed across traditional public schools, charter schools, and the state. We offer concrete policy recommendations that may help to achieve these objectives.


Background: Maternal smoking during pregnancy is known to be associated with perinatal complications such as preterm delivery, low birth weight, and sudden infant death syndrome. Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of smoking during pregnancy on the risk of postnatal infections in preterm neonates. Method: We examined 80 preterm infants (gestational age 24–36 weeks), of whom 40% had been exposed to tobacco smoking during pregnancy. Results: Infections occurred in 31 infants. Gestational age and maternal smoking had a significant effect on the occurrence of infections (p < 0.001 and p = 0.015, respectively). An increase in maternal tobacco consumption by 10 cigarettes/day showed an odds ratio of 2.7 (95% confidence interval 1.1–6.4) for occurrence of infections. Conclusions: A significant association between maternal use of tobacco and the occurrence of infections in preterm neonates was found. Thus, campaigns about the damaging effects of tobacco are still warranted.


This thesis investigated factors contributing to the high variability of observed cognitive deficits (Studies I, II, III), and reversibility of cognitive deficits (Studies III, IV), in old-age depression. Dementia-free nondepressed and depressed (unipolar; ICD-10 criteria) participants from the population-based Swedish National study on Aging and CareKungsholmen (SNAC-K) who underwent extensive neuropsychological testing formed the basis of the study samples. Study I assessed the influence of depression severity on cognitive performance, while controlling for a range of clinical and demographic factors. Individuals with moderate/severe depression exhibited deficits in multiple cognitive domains, whereas only processing speed was affected in mild depression. Study II examined the influence of combined KIBRA (CC) and CLSTN2 (TT) risk alleles on episodic memory performance. Episodic memory deficits were only observed in individuals with both depression and the disadvantageous CC/TT allelic combination. Study III investigated the role of psychiatric history on cognitive performance in acute and remitted states of depression. Currently depressed individuals with a psychiatric inpatient history and individuals with late-onset depression performed at the lowest levels, whereas cognitive performance in individuals with self-reported recurrent unipolar depression was intermediate. Individuals with remitted unipolar depression exhibited no cognitive deficits. Physical inactivity, cumulative inpatient days, heart disease burden, and prodromal dementia modulated cognitive performance. Study IV assessed cognitive performance in different depression courses (depressed-remitted, remitted-depressed, and nondepressed-late-onset depression) longitudinally over a maximum period of 6 years. Cognitive decline was observed in all groups for multiple domains, although individuals who changed their status from nondepressed to depressed showed exacerbated cognitive decline. In remitted states, only processing speed and attention were affected. However, these deficits were modulated by benzodiazepine intake. In sum, depression-related cognitive deficits were observed in processing speed, attention, executive function, verbal fluency (Studies I, III, IV), episodic memory (Studies I, II), and semantic memory (Study I). No depression-related deficits were observed in general knowledge, short-term memory, or spatial ability. As multiple factors were found to modulate cognitive performance in dementia-free unipolar old-age depression, and consistent with the notion that depression is a heterogeneous disorder, this may explain why patterns of cognitive deficits in depression vary between studies. Recurrence rates of depression remain high, and cognitive deficits in depression are associated with a poor prognosis and take a longer time to recover than depressive symptoms. This underscores the importance of early detection of cognitive deterioration in depression. Importantly, cognitive deficits in depression seem largely reversible. Thus, they should be regarded as treatment targets rather than as stable vulnerabilities. Combined profiles of psychiatric history, cognitive performance, and health behaviors may provide important information to individualized treatment.


Nicotine is one of the most consumed alkaloids. Its effects still lead to mixed conclusions. Having recently observed that ants could be used as biological models, we examined several physiological and ethological effects of nicotine using the ant Myrmica sabuleti as a biological model. We pointed out that nicotine increases the individuals' locomotion, decreases the precision of their reaction, decreases their response to pheromones, does not impact their audacity, and reduces their food consumption. Nicotine largely decreases the individuals' learning abilities when the reward does not contain this alkaloid but increases the rapidness of acquiring visual as well as olfactory conditioning when the reward contains nicotine. In the latter case, the final conditioning score is only very slightly higher than the control score, and there is no memorization. Under nicotine consumption, ants' cognitive abilities seem of better quality, the ants in fact acting more rapidly. There is no habituation to nicotine consumption. No dependence on this alkaloid exists, as long as the individuals feel well, but dependence appears as soon as the individuals need something, are deprived of something. After nicotine consumption ends, a first slow, than a short rather quick, and finally again a slow decrease of its effects occurs. As for other alkaloids, no dependence is associated to no habituation and to rather slow vanishing of the effects. However, since the effects of nicotine quickly vanish during a short time, dependence might develop if the individual then encounters any problem or need. All the effects, here revealed using ants as biological models, are in agreement with those actually known for nicotine. Some effects could even be better defined, i.e. the impact on cognition, the occurrence of dependence. The present work brings so some new information about this important alkaloid and shows, once more, that ants could be used as biological models, for a first, not expensive step of a more general, biological or medical study.


This survey of freshwater gastropods within Nebraska includes 159 sample sites and encompasses the four primary level III ecoregions of the State. I identified sixteen species in five families. Six of the seven species with the highest incidence, Physa gyrina, Planorbella trivolvis, Stagnicola elodes, Gyraulus parvus, Stagnicola caperata, and Galba humilis were collected in each of Nebraska's four major level III ecoregions. The exception, Physa acuta, was not collected in the Western High Plains ecoregion. Seven indigenous species, Valvata tricarinata, Helisoma anceps, Campeloma decisum, Galba bulimoides, Physa jennessi, Ferrissia rivularis, and Planorbula armigera, display incidence rarity, being collected at five or fewer samples sites. The non-indigenous Chinese mystery snail, Bellamya chinensis, was collected at five sites all within southeastern Nebraska. The Nebraska Sand Hills had the highest species richness, with 12 species. The wetland complex with the highest species richness of 8 was the lakes region of the Nebraska Sand Hills. Reservoirs and permanent/semi-permanent water bodies were the most species rich among water body types and hydrologic conditions with 13 and 14 species respectively. I assign a tentative conservation status to each species of indigenous freshwater snail observed following a modified quartile analysis.


This study examines the potential impact of the 2008-2009 financial crisis on economic growth. Expectations of future growth are critical to evaluating of the sustainability of overall budget trends and the financial condition of the Old-Age Survivors and Disability Insurance (OASDI) and Medicare trust funds. The paper includes an assessment of the experience of other industrial economies with similar situations in earlier decades. The Nordic countries achieved a relatively complete recovery within a period of 5-10 years, but the slump in economic growth in Japan has continued for over a quarter century. The analysis of the current experience in the United States focuses on recent changes in the supply of labor and capital and changes in the growth of total factor productivity (TFP). The large decline in the labor force participation rate is largely the result of demographic changes and not the recession. Similarly, the growth of TFP has slowed in recent years, but most studies perceive it as predating the onset of the recession. The paper finds that: - Even though they may not be directly due to the financial crisis, expectations have been cut back in a wide range of analyses of future growth prospects. - The recent decline in labor force participation is dominated by demographic changes that will continue in future decades. Only a small portion appears to be related to cyclical factors. - The growth in TFP has also slowed, but the change predates the financial crisis and is also likely to continue in future years. The policy implications of the findings are: - The economic assumptions that underlie current projections of government expenditure programs are likely to be overly optimistic, particularly because the changed expectations are not cyclical or temporary in nature.


While much of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act concerned the minutiae of corporate governance, Section 307 of the Act was aspirational by directing the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) to adopt rules that enlist lawyers in preventing - or at least reporting - corporate misconduct. In addition to adopting the "up-the-ladder" reporting rules mandated by Congress, the SEC sought to put teeth into the regulation of corporate lawyers by proposing the "noisy withdrawal" rule that would have required outside corporate counsel to disclose publicly the reasons for withdrawal if the corporation persisted in a course of misconduct. The reaction of the organized bar was almost wholly negative, focusing on the supposed harm to the confidential lawyer-client relationship from the disclose of privilege information, and the SEC ultimately withdrew the proposal. The flaw in the SEC's proposed rule was that it coupled "noisy" with "withdrawal." Lawyers are not "gatekeepers" in the same way accountants have a duty to the investing public to ensure that a company conveys accurate information. Compelling disclosure to the public of a lawyer's withdrawal from representation imparts a gatekeeper role that can create more confusion in the market than clarity. The noise is largely superfluous to the goal of preventing corporate crime, while withdrawal is an important step toward removing lawyers from the process that can lead to criminal conduct. Unfortunately, the Commission missed its chance to fulfill the congressional mandate of Section 307 and take an important step in preventing future corporate crimes when it failed to require attorneys to withdraw from representation if a client persists in misconduct. The Article argues that the SEC should adopt the withdrawal portion of the noisy withdrawal rule, and that withdrawal should be mandatory for both outside counsel and in-house lawyers when they become aware of corporate misconduct and the corporation refuses to take adequate remedial measures. Mandatory complete withdrawal and the required disclosure to successor counsel can make lawyers more effective in preventing or impeding corporate crimes because the rule makes it significantly more difficult for the corporation to continue a course of conduct without considering the consequences. Much like the public disclosure sought by the Commission, withdrawal is a signal, only to a more limited audience: the corporation and the new lawyer. The rule relies on that second attorney to be as ethical as the first lawyer, and to refuse to accept the corporate client if there is "evidence of a material violation" and a refusal to act appropriately.


Abstract Austinite belongs to the adelite mineral group of calcium and lead arsenates, and has the conichalcite/ descloizite type of crystal structure. The crystal structure of nearly pure austinite, CaZn(AsO4)OH, was redetermined (R = 0.014) and the absolute configuration identified. The space group P212121 and cell parameters a 7.5092(8), b 9.0438(9), c 5.9343(8) Å match previous data. Zinc octahedra share edges to form chains parallel to e. Arsenic tetrahedra share vertices with the Zn octahedra to generate a compact framework. Calcium square antiprisms share edges to make chains parallel to a that occupy the channels in the zinc-arsenic framework.


Households in rural India are highly dependent on firewood as their main source of energy, partly because non-biofuels tend to be expensive. The prevailing view is therefore that, when faced with shortages of firewood in the village commons, such households, and especially the women in them, have to spend more and more time searching for firewood and eventually settle for poorer-quality biomass such as twigs, branches and dry leaves. Using data from a random sample of rural households in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, we come to very different conclusions, however. We find that households in villages with degraded forests do not spend longer hours searching for firewood, but instead switch to either using firewood from private trees or to using agricultural waste for fuel. In the long run, moreover, households respond to the firewood shortage by altering the mix of private trees on their land in favor of firewood, as opposed to fruit, trees. We find also that, Joint Forest Management, a government program initiated in the 1990s, is having a positive impact on the firewood economy.


The series is the expression of the Center for Research on Teaching of Languages, which in Edizioni Ca' Foscari also has a magazine, Linguistics Education - Language Education, EL.LE, and a necklace, Intercultural Communication, COMINT, dedicated to this important but overlooked aspect of language mastery. In the series, the volumes of which are approved by three blind referees before publication, are three types of search space: a. studies on the epistemologic nature of the science that studies language education, in the wider meaning that includes Italian mother tongue, second and foreign, modern languages and classical ones; b. operational studies on methods, strategies, language teaching methodologies; c. quantitative and qualitative surveys on particular aspects of language teaching in the various training areas. The collection hosts studies of scholars working both at Ca' Foscari University and in other institutions.


Abstract Within ancient ecosystems, it is generally difficult to determine the specific diets of species from higher trophic levels, which in turn hinders our understanding of trophic relationships and energy flow through these systems. To better understand the ecology of taxa at higher trophic levels, we used analysis of tooth enamel stable carbon isotope values to infer the dietary preferences of Canis edwardii and Smilodon gracilis from the Leisey Shell Pit 1A (LSP 1A) and Inglis 1A, two Pleistocene localities in Florida. The goals of the analyses were to (1) determine whether these carnivorans specialized in particular prey types or maintained a generalist diet; (2) ascertain whether carbon isotope values support what was previously suggested about the ecology of these species; and (3) establish what ecological details of ancient food webs can be discovered by carbon isotope analyses at higher trophic levels. Results show that the sampled carnivoran carbon isotope values are distributed among suspected prey isotope values, suggesting that varied prey were taken at the study localities. Prey compositions were modeled for each carnivoran species by using Stable Isotope Analysis in R (SIAR). The modeled diets indicate that each studied carnivoran had a generalist diet; however, there are differences in how these taxa achieved dietary generalization. At the glacial Inglis 1A locality, sampled individuals of C. edwardii and S. gracilis show similar isotope values and modeled dietary prey proportions, although both carnivorans do show a preference for grazing prey species. The similar isotopic values, and calculated prey proportions, observed between these species may imply greater interspecific competition for food. At the interglacial LSP 1A locality, C. edwardii shows values similar to those observed at Inglis 1A. In contrast, the data for S. gracilis shows a preference for consuming browsing prey species. Further, its restricted range of carbon isotope values suggests that S. gracilis may have concentrated its feeding within a particular habitat. Examination of stable carbon isotope values among species at higher trophic levels reveals that some intricacies of ancient food webs can be discerned.


Cross-linked chitosan(C)/marble powder (M) composites with different weight ratio percentage (C100M0, C70M30, C50M50, and C30M70) were prepared from marble powder and chitosan and cross-linked using glutaraldehyde. The morphology and the surface area of the chitosan/marble powder composites were also characterized with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and Micromeritics (ASAP 2020) BET (Brunauer, Emmett and Teller) instrument, respectively. To evaluate the adsorption behaviour of the chitosan/marble powder composites, 0.1 g adsorbent was added into 50 mL Diamozol Blue BRF %150 (C.I. Reactive Blue 221) solution with fixed concentrations (60 mg/L). At equilibrium, the adsorption capacity of C100M0, C70M30 and C50M50 for Dimozol Blue was about 27 mg/g and significantly greater than that of C30M70. C50M50 composite was more economical than C100M0 and C70M30 due to the higher marble powder content, and hence was selected as an adsorbent for the removal of Dimozol Blue from aqueous solution. The adsorption kinetics and equilibrium isotherms of Dimozol Blue onto the chitosan/marble powder composites from aqueous solution were investigated. The studies revealed that Dimozol Blue dye adsorption was described well by the pseudo-second-order and Freundlich isotherm models. The results of this study indicated the applicability of the chitosan/marble powder composites for removing industrial dyes from aqueous solution.


OBJECTIVE
To identify changes over time in relative expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and -9 (MMP-9) in synovial fluid from healthy calves and calves with experimentally induced septic arthritis.

ANIMALS
12 Holstein calves.

PROCEDURES
In 7 calves, Escherichia coli was injected in the right tarsal joint on day 1. Joint lavage was performed on day 2, and calves were treated with ceftiofur from days 2 through 21. Synovial fluid samples were collected on days 1 (before inoculation), 2 (before joint lavage), 3, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24. In the remaining 5 calves, joint lavage was performed on day 2 and synovial fluid samples were collected from the left tarsal joint. Relative expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was determined by means of gel zymography.

RESULTS
On day 1, MMP-2 was detected in all synovial fluid samples but MMP-9 was not detected. In calves with septic arthritis, values for relative expression of MMP-9 monomer and dimer were significantly increased on days 2 through 20 and days 2 through 24, respectively, and relative expression of MMP-2 was significantly increased on days 3 through 20. There were significant linear associations between relative expression of the monomer and dimer forms of MMP-9 and between neutrophil count and relative expression of the MMP-9 monomer and dimer forms.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE
Results indicated that relative expression of MMP-9 and MMP-2 increased in synovial fluid from calves with experimentally induced septic arthritis, with relative expression remaining high for several days after infection.


The theory of propagation of partially coherent light is well known, but performing numerical calculations still presents a difficulty because of the dimensionality of the problem. We propose using a recently introduced method based on the use of elementary functions [Wald et al. Proc. SPIE6040, 59621G (2005)] to reduce the integrals to two dimensions. We formalize the method, describe its inherent assumptions and approximations, and introduce a sampling criterion for adequate interpolation. We present an analysis of some special cases, such as the Gaussian Schell-model beam, and briefly discuss generalized numerical propagation of two-dimensional field distributions.


Risk parity has been considered a heuristic asset allocation method. In this paper, we show that, to the contrary, risk parity is a special case of a mean-risk type of a portfolio optimization problem with log-regularization to constrain weights. We show that log-regularization leads to a fund separation type property where the optimal solution lies between an unconstrained mean-risk portfolio and a risk parity (or risk budgeted in general) portfolio. We also demonstrate in a Bayesian framework that these log-regularizations are actually equivalent to putting prior distributions on the optimal portfolio weights. While leading to non-convex solutions, we further provide applications of these log-regularized mean-risk models in long/short asset allocation so as to generalize risk parity beyond long-only investments. We provide numerical examples on a typical institutional asset universe, and finally, we prove that there are efficient risk parity portfolios not necessarily satisfying equal Sharpe and constant correlation conditions, which have been widely mistaken as the only efficiency conditions for risk parity portfolios in the industry.


This book grew out of the Blacks at MIT History Project, whose mission is to document the black presence at MIT. The main body of the text consists of transcripts of more than seventy-five oral history interviews, in which the interviewees assess their MIT experience and reflect on the role of blacks at MIT and beyond. Although most of the interviewees are present or former students, black faculty, administrators, and staff are also represented, as are nonblack faculty and administrators who have had an impact on blacks at MIT. The interviewees were selected with an eye to presenting the broadest range of issues and personalities, as well as a representative cross section by time period and category. Each interviewee was asked to discuss family background; education; role models and mentors; experiences of racism and race-related issues; choice of field and career; goals; adjustment to the MIT environment; best and worst MIT experiences; experience with MIT support services; relationships with MIT students, faculty, and staff; advice to present or potential MIT students; and advice to the MIT administration. A recurrent theme is that MIT's rigorous teaching instills the confidence to deal with just about any hurdle in professional life, and that an MIT degree opens many doors and supplies instant credibility. Each interview includes biographical notes and pictures. The book also includes a general introduction, a glossary, and appendixes describing the project's methodology.


We assess the political support for parametric reforms of the Pay-As-You-Go pension system following a downward fertility shock. Using a continuous time overlapping generations model, we argue that reforms that consist in cutting pension benefits or increasing the retirement age are likely to receive a strong political support. An increase in the contribution rate has, on the contrary, fewer chances to be approved by the majority of the voters. This framework also allows to identify the costs and benefits of postponing each type of reform and to determine how the timing of the different reforms affects their political support.


The binding of this item renders some marginal text unreadable. A hard copy is available in UCD Library at GEN 330.08 IR/UNI


South of Budapest an irrigation and drainage canal system extends from the left bank of the main river into the Kiskunsag area. The canals differ in size, discharge and salinity. Management includes mowing of aquatic vegetation and dredging. Macrophyte surveys were carried out in part of the main canal (Dunavolgyi-focsatornat), in the medium-sized Harmincas-Canal, and in the smaller Apaji-Canal. The main canal receives its water directly from the Danube River. Water flow is slow, there is no shading by riparian vegetation and the water is rich in nutrients, but usually clear. Water temperatures are relatively high in summer and are beneficial for species like Ceratophyllum demersum, C. submersum, Trapa natans, Cabomba caroliniana and Najas marina. For the first time a floristic-ecological characterization was possible for part of the canal system. The occurrence of the neophyte C. caroliniana, and the high species richness found in the canals make them interesting and valuable habitats for the aquatic vegetation, despite their anthropogenic origin.


The educational process in schools involves many activities that ultimately aim at testing students' motivation, knowledge assimilation, academic performance, and teachers' productivity. How these activities are accommodated in a responsive environment is a critical issue that deserves special attention especially from users' perspective. This paper analyzes emerging understandings of learning environments. Reactions of teachers and students to classroom and cluster prototypes, among other aspects, against a number of spatial requirements and educational objectives are analyzed and discussed based on two mechanisms. The first is a comparative analysis of reactions of teachers from three elementary schools within Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District. The second part is a case study of a pre-design phase undertaken for redesigning some buildings of North Carolina School of the Arts. The results of this investigation support the assumption on how the school environment has a direct impact on the way in which teaching and learning takes place. A conclusion envisioning the need for going beyond adopting prescriptive measures to address the quality of the learning of environment is conceived by highlighting the need to utilize knowledge generated from research findings into school design process, to pursue active roles in sensitizing users about the value of the school environment in reaching the desired academic performance while increasing teachers' productivity.


The availability and dynamics of airborne fungal spores in the atmosphere are strongly influenced by the meteorological parameters and by other factors such as air pollutants. The aim of this study was to update the knowledge about the seasonal and diurnal variations in airborne fungal spores of Doha area and to correlate these variations with meteorological factors, and to investigate the influence of atmospheric CO2 concentrations and different culture media on the availability of fungal spores. From 106 settle plate exposures (on alternative days) throughout the period April 2015-March 2016, a total of 1197 mould- and 283 yeast colony-forming units (CFU), twenty one genera and 62 species were retrieved. The highest fungal spore's concentration was recorded in February 2016, whereas the lowest concentration occurred in August 2015. The main constituents of the fungal airspora were attributed to Cladosporium (60.2%), Aspergillus (10.4%), Fusarium (9.4%), Alternaria (8.5%), and Ganoderma spp. (2.3%). Cladosporium showed two peaks in April and February, while Fusarium and Alteranria peaked in July. Aspirgillus had one peak in August. The prevalence of Ganoderma spp. were exclusively detected in February and March. Temperature was significantly and negatively correlated with the total colony count and fungal species, however no significant correlation was found between relative humidity and both the total colony count and fungal species. Wind speed was significantly and positively correlated with the total colony count and fungal species. The correlation between rainfalls and either total colony count or fungal species was non-significant. Intra-diurnal fluctuations of fungal spores was investigated during the period of 1st of Feb – 31st of March 2016. The highest dispersal of fungal spores favored 18:00 h, whereas at 00:00 h (midnight) the lowest fungal spores release was recorded. No significant difference was observed in total number of fungal colonies or species collected with the two media Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) and Rose Bengal media. Nevertheless, certain fungal taxa were highly selective and thus their growth rate was on one media much higher than with another. There were no significant differences in the composition and diversity of the airborne fungal population between two different study sites under the influence of atmospheric CO2 concentration, though daily concentration of CO2 was higher at the Industrial area site than at Qatar University Campus. Remarkably, the concentrations of Alternaria spp. and Fusarium spp. were significantly higher at Industrial area site in corresponding to CO2 than at Qatar University site.


Detecting the presence of invasive mammalian pests is expensive, particularly where multiple species of interest are sympatric, yet is key to determining when, where and how much control to do, and the effectiveness of that control. Here we describe the efficacy of a simple new and cheap device, the chew-track-card (CTC), both as a potential tool for simultaneously indexing the relative abundance of sympatric small-mammal pests, and for cheaply and comprehensively mapping the distribution of these pests over large, remote areas. The CTC is an interference device that can record both tooth impressions and the footprints of animals interacting with it. Several studies comparing CTC indices (CTCIs) with established indices of possums and rodents are reported. Possum CTCIs were positively and significantly correlated with established trap-catch indices (TCI), WaxTag® and faecal pellet indices of possum abundance. The relationship between possum CTCI and TCI in seven study sites was always positive and, with adequate sampling, statistically significant, but was also variable, probably due to monitoring protocols differing between trials. Rat CTCIs were also positively correlated to tracking tunnel indices, but these two indices were unrelated for mice. Standard leg-hold trapping cost 29−46 times more per possum detection than for CTCs during a large-scale survey of the Hauhungaroa Range. CTCs are a sensitive and cost-effective means of detecting the presence of small mammalian pests, especially possums and rodents. They also potentially provide a robust tool for indexing low density populations of such pests, particularly possums and rats, although further calibration of CTC indices of pest abundance with standard indices is required. Also, the consequences of interaction between abundant pests, particularly rats, on CTC detection rates, and means to reduce these interactions, need further investigation.


The increasing availability of cost-relevant data in industry allows companies to apply data-intensive estimation methods. However, available data are often inconsistent, invalid, or incomplete, so that most of the existing data-intensive estimation methods cannot be applied. Only few estimation methods can deal with imperfect data to a certain extent (e.g., optimized set reduction, OSR). Results from evaluating these methods in practical environments are rare. This article describes a case study on the application of OSR at Toshiba information systems (Japan) corporation. An important result of the case study is that estimation accuracy significantly varies with the data sets used and the way of preprocessing these data. The study supports current results in the area of quantitative cost estimation and clearly illustrates typical problems. Experiences, lessons learned, and recommendations with respect to data preprocessing and data-intensive cost estimation in general are presented.


1. Whole-body elimination rate of 22Na+ was decreased in normotensive or borderline first-degree relatives of hypertensive probands. 2. Whole-body potassium, exchangeable sodium and urine excretion of sodium, potassium and creatinine were similar in relatives and controls. 3. Erythrocyte net influx of 22Na+ was significantly increased in normotensive relatives. 4. Abnormal whole-body and cellular handling of sodium (22Na+) demonstrated in relatives indicates that this abnormality may have an important role in the development of essential hypertension in man.


We investigated spatialtemporal variability and long-term trends of rainfall over the Metropolitan Area of Sao Paulo (MASP). Due to a lack of continuous and consistent rainfall obser- vations in the MASP, a database for the spatial analysis was created from a composite of 94 sta- tions, with daily rainfall data for 1973�1997, plus data from the University of Sao Paulo's Institute of Geophysics and Astronomy (IAG/USP) station for 1933�2011, as the base of the long-term vari- ability analysis. It is shown that the seasonal and interannual rainfall variability result from under- lying local influences and remote large-scale atmospheric dynamics. These effects appear to be more complex during the austral spring and fall seasons, and seem to determine the duration of the rainy period over the MASP. The intraseasonal (30�60 d) oscillation of rainfall does not exhibit any long-term modulation; interannual rainfall variability for 1975�1990 appears modulated by the El NinoSouthern Oscillation (ENSO) scale (2�8 yr). Nonetheless, there exists statistical evi- dence that the rainfall climate over the MASP had an abrupt change at the end of the 1950s, but the global climatic change that occurred in the middle of the 1970s is not evident. The progressive increase in the frequency of rainy days and total daily throughout the period of analysis are promi- nent factors in the trend of annual and seasonal rainfall. Furthermore, rainfall variability over the MASP may be modulated by the Southern Annular Mode (SAM), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and ENSO at seasonal scales, altering the normal progression of the seasonal rainfall cycle, while at interannual scales, each one of these patterns drives the rainfall variability, mainly when each pattern reaches its extreme value.


Social Networks are Web-based services that allow people to construct a public, or somewhat public, profile. Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection with friends, family, etc. Social networks not only allow people to meet and communicate with strangers, but they also let users organize and visible their social networks. In many ways, social media has led to positive changes in the way people communicate and share information; however, it has a dark side, as well. Social networking can sometimes result in negative outcomes, some with long-term consequences. There are millions of people on the internet who are looking to meet other people and to gather and share information and experiences on a variety of topics. Hundreds of social networking sites have been created, and have attracted millions of users. In a very short span social networking has become a phenomenon. Most of the key features of these sites are very similar, yet the cultures that form around the social networking sites vary in many different ways. Some of the sites target diverse audiences, while others attract people based on common language, race, sexual preferences, religion, or nationality. The sites also vary the ways in which the show and incorporate new information and communication tools, like mobile access, blogging, and photo and video sharing. Easily the most common use of Social Networking sites, and the main reason for them existing in the first place, is for personal reasons. It is used for its original purpose - to keep in touch with friends. Some people will go on simply to update their status or view their friends' statuses, or to look at photos from the weekend's night out. In the past it would have been nigh on impossible to keep in touch, much less keep up to date with what they are doing. But Social Networking, as coin, has two sides. However useful and creative it may be, but it also has its darker side. The current paper throws some light on a few of the common and popular methods of abuse and various risks faced by the users of social networks and some preventive measures to ensure the safety of person and personal data.


The direct indexical relationship between text and material is not only structurally embedded in the computer systems which manage, facilitate and entertain us, but rests in a history of science, belief, law and magic. While text is compiled in machine code, enacting the processes which turn on our street lights, render our videos and send data packets to the server, older societies performed other enactments of text, containing their own syntax and lexis. Religion, sorcerers, alchemists, writers of constitutions brought forth, with hubristic self-certainty, the world as we know it; spells, gold and human rights in that order. Burj Babil (Tower of Babel) is a video installation work. To create the tower, the source code file has been subjected to a number of transformation processes which corrupt and destroy the tower in different phases. The processes transform the vertex and face coordinates from the source code file into ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange 2) characters. The results are then fed into language translation services (babelfish.yahoo.com). Most of the file is ignored since the sequence of characters do not correspond to real words. However when chance causes the ASCII sequence to form a recognizable word this will cause a corresponding physical translation of that vertex point. The resultant corrupted code is then used to re-make the model causing its eventual collapse. The final result of this process is a number of video sequences showing the destruction of the tower as its source code file is translated into different languages.


The management of health and safety is an issue that is relevant and crucial to all organisations across all industries, to include traditional industries, commercial, information technology (IT), the National Health Services (NHS), care homes, schools, higher educational institutions, travel and leisure, etc. Health and safety is specifically significant and crucial for the construction industry. In the United Kingdom, the construction industry is the largest of all industries. It accounts for about 8% of gross domestic product, employs about 10% of the national workforce and generates an annual turnover of up to £250 billion. The UK construction industry has a global reputation for the quality of its work but yet it remains one of the most dangerous industries in the nation.. Research on this thesis is based on a general overview of health and safety in the construction industry, highlighting on a strategic approach to dealing with three major issues with regards to health and safety in the construction industry. First, the thesis tries to deal with the problem of how to improve organisational health and safety (OHS) through the monitoring of the process of procurement in construction projects. For instance, there is a strong belief in the construction industry that any organisational culture of any bidder chosen for a particular project will have an influence on the entire project. Hence, there is a need for the contractor to properly scrutinize bidders with regards to how they handle OHS and how this reflects on their organisational culture. In addition to the proper scrutiny of a client's OHS record, there is also an issue of financial and legal status of a client with regards to indemnity or any insurance considerations in the case of construction accidents. That is, can a client be held accountable for an accident? What type of accidents that will happen during work on the project that the client will be accountable for? Secondly, the thesis will address the issue of cost-effectiveness in construction projects and how OHS is dealt with simultaneously. For instance, in the process of choosing a bidder, sometimes contractors may tend to ignore health and safety issues and decide to choose a client that will result in cost savings, or choosing the highest bidder irrespective of OHS concerns. Hence, there is a risk management concern to be dealt with in such cases. Third, the thesis considers what type of strategic decisions and the responsibilities of both the contractor as well as the client in terms of dealing with OHS with regards to construction projects. In so doing, the research considers various literatures along with previous and practical cases of construction projects and the type of strategic decisions taken by both contractors as well clients with regards to OHS. A quantitative/qualitative research approach is employed in conducting this research alongside an inductive research paradigm. Data collection includes various sources, such as library, internet, (such as web searches with various keywords and databases as Emerald Insight, SPSS, Elsevier, Mintel, etc.). Materials to be used include textbooks, journal articles (print and online), peer review journals from databases, online publications, websites, media articles, PDF documents, and more. Henceforth, this research will discuss and try to identify a gap within health and safety in the construction industry, reviewing procurement monitoring, cost effectiveness and strategy.


Effects of age and long-term nutritional treatment on pancreas composition and digestive function were determined in rats fed a cereal-type chow after weaning (experiment 1) or diets with 30% casein and 34% butterfat, 54% starch, or 54% sucrose after 9 mo (experiment 2). The rats were adapted for 1-2 wk to a 15% whole-egg protein diet before killing. In experiment 1, pancreas size, nucleic acid, and digestive enzyme content increased significantly with age up to 3 mo. Values for pancreatic weight and DNA were significantly greater in 28-mo-old rats than in 12-mo-old rats. Pancreatic digestive enzyme content was 65-100% lower in rats with and without gross pathologic lesions. In experiment 2, mortality was higher and pathologic changes were more pronounced by 24 mo in rats fed the butterfat or sucrose diet. Usually, pancreatic enzymes were not reduced as much as in experiment 1, although chymotrypsinogen and trypsinogen concentrations were significantly and negatively correlated with the degree of pathologic change. Apparent digestibility of dietary nitrogen and food energy content was not reduced in rats with reduced enzyme reserves. The rate of incorporation in vitro of label into pancreatic protein and RNA did not differ significantly among aged and control rats.


Are we born selfish or primed to help others?

Does stress make people more antisocial?

Can we ever be genuinely altruistic?

This book explores some of the dilemmas at the heart of being human. Integrating cutting edge studies with in-depth clinical experience, Graham Music synthesizes a wealth of fascinating research into an explanation of altruism, cooperation and generosity and shows how we are primed to turn off the 'better angels of our nature' in the face of stress, anxiety and fear.

Using fascinating psychological research but rooted in a clinicians understanding of the impact of stress on our moral and pro-social capacities, The Good Life covers topics as diverse as:

 The role of parenting and family life in shaping how antisocial or pro-social we become
 How stress, abuse and insecure attachment profoundly undermine empathic and altruistic capacities
 The relative influence of our genes or environments on becoming big-hearted or coldly psychopathic
 How our immediate contexts and recent social changes might tilt us towards either selfish or cooperative behaviour

This book makes a unique contribution to a subject that is increasingly on people's minds It does not shirk complexity, nor suggest easy explanations, but offers a hard look at the evidence in the hope that we can gain some understanding of how a 'Good Life' might develop. Often personally challenging, intellectually exhilarating and written with in an easily accessible style, The Good Life makes sense of how our moral selves take shape, and shines a light on the roots of goodness and nastiness.


Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP-7) are key regulators of angiogenesis and osteogenesis during bone regeneration. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of realizing sequential release of the two growth factors using a novel composite scaffold. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-Akermanite (AK) microspheres were used to make the composite scaffold, which was then loaded with BMP-7, followed by embedding in a gelatin hydrogel matrix loaded with VEGF. The release profiles of the growth factors were studied and selected osteogenic related markers of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) were analysed. It was shown that the composite scaffolds exhibited a fast initial burst release of VEGF within the first 3 days and a sustained slow release of BMP-7 over the full period of 20 days. The in vitro proliferation and differentiation of the BMSCs cultured in the osteogenic medium were enhanced by 1 to 2 times, resulting from the additionally and sequentially release of growth factors from the PLGA-AK/gelatin composite scaffolds.


Objectives: All-trans retinoic acid (atRA) potently induces differentiation and apoptosis in pancreatic cancer. However, the clinical use of retinoids is limited by retinoid resistance or development of toxicity at high doses. We tested the hypothesis that blocking atRA degradation and elimination from the cell would potentiate its effectiveness in pancreatic cancer therapy.
Methods: In vitro, AsPc-1 and HPAF cells were co-treated with atRA and inhibitors of either multidrug resistance (MDR: verapamil, LY335979, and quinidine) or cytochrome P450 (CYP450s: troleandomycin, clotrimazole and liarozole). In addition, cells were co treated with atRA and antisense oligonucleotides against MRP, Pgp, CYP26 and CYP3A4. Proliferation and apoptosis were investigated. In vivo, AsPc-1 xenografts were treated with atRA, verapamil, and troleandomycin alone or in combination.
Results: The anti-proliferative effect of atRA on AsPc-1 and HPAF cells was markedly potentiated by the inhibition of MDR and CYP450 or by antisense oligonucleotides to reduce their production. The combination also enhanced atRA-induced apoptosis. Coadministration of inhibitors of MDR and CYP450 also potentiated the inhibitory effect of atRA on growth of xenografts.
Conclusions: Co-treatment of pancreatic cancer with low nontoxic doses of atRA combined with MDR blockade and inhibition of CYP450 is effective suppressing tumor growth, suggesting a novel clinical application.


Cavitation is the formation of vapor bubbles either in a static liquid or in a liquid flow due to a drop in static pressure. When these bubbles collapse, as a result of pressure recovery, they may damage adjacent surfaces. These events are major causes of damage and nuisance in hydro machines. Modern hydro turbines are often used to regulate power grids; therefore, they may be operated out of their designed range. The flow-related optimal operation is different from the economic optimal usage. Detecting and characterizing cavitation and assessing damage during operation can be difficult or even impossible. Acoustic emission (AE) measurements provide a way to measure cavitation without access to the flow, but interpreting the data is challenging. This thesis presents insights in the ways of treating the AE data both in characterizing individual pits created by cavitation impacts and in tracking the evolution of cavitation erosion. Additionally, the erosion rates of three turbine materials were compared, and the main reasons behind the differing erosion rates of two martensitic turbine steels were discovered. The same high-speed cavitation tunnel was used in all cavitation experiments. This thesis firstly presents a method for enveloping an AE waveform signal and for counting the peak voltage values. The resulting cumulative distributions were compared to those of cavitation pit diameters, and from this comparison, a connection was proposed between AE peak voltage value and pit diameter. The second result was the connection between cavitation cloud shedding frequency and erosion evolution. The process of demodulating high frequency AE signals effectively promotes the low frequency shedding. The shedding frequency increased with accumulating material loss, and it was concluded that this increase is due to geometry effects, namely surface roughness. In addition to the two proposed methods, it was found that the decisive factors in the differing erosion rates of the martensitic stainless steels are the prior austenite grain size, packet and block sizes and the retained austenite fraction. This thesis provides guidelines directly applicable, such as the martensitic steel classifying, and methods that require further development, if one wishes to utilize them in hydro machine cavitation monitoring instead of laboratory measurements in a cavitation tunnel. The main outcome is that AE is a potential way to monitor cavitation, with the important benefit of not requiring any access to the flow.


Immortality is the most cherished dream and the biggest wish of any person. In book the author shows that the problem of immortality can be solved only by changing the biological human into an artificial form. Such an immortal person made of chips and super-solid material (the E-man, as was called in earlier author articles and book) will have incredible advantages in comparison to conventional people. An E-man will need no food, no dwelling, no air, no sleep, no rest, and no ecologically pure environment. His brain will work from radio-isotopic batteries (which will work for decades) and muscles that will work on small nuclear engines. Such a being will be able to travel into space and walk on the sea floor with no aqualungs. He will change his face and figure. He will have super-human strength and communicate easily over long distances to gain vast amounts of knowledge in seconds (by re-writing his brain). His mental abilities and capacities will increase millions of times. It will be possible for such a person to travel huge distances at the speed of light. The information of one person like this could be transported to other planets with a laser beam and then placed in a new body.


Adulteration of hempseed (H) oil, a well‐known health beneficial nutrient, is studied in this work by mixing it with cheap and widely used oils such as rapeseed (R) oil and sesame (Se) and sunflower (Su) oil. Many samples of different geographic origins were taken into account. Binary mixture sets of hempseed oil with these 3 oils (HR, HSe, and HSu) were considered. FTIR spectra of pure oils and their mixtures were recorded, and quantitative analyses were performed using partial least squares regression (PLS) and first‐break forward interval PLS methods (FB‐FiPLS). The obtained results show that each particular oil can be very successfully quantified (R2(val) > 0.995, RMSECV 0.9%–2.9%, RMSEP 1.0%–3.2%). This means that FTIR coupled with multivariate methods can rapidly and effectively determine the level of adulteration in the adulterated hempseed oil for these studied and frequently used adulterant oils. Also, the relevant variables selected by FB‐FiPLS could be used for verification of hempseed oil adulteration.


Prey size is one of the major factors involved in prey selection of fish larvae, and is closely related to their foraging abilities and mouth size. This study examines the feeding habits of 6 coexisting fish larvae species of the order Myctophiformes in the western Mediterranean. The Myctophiformes are the dominant teleosts of the open oceans worldwide, and their larvae are char- acterized by high morphological variability. In the present study, size of ingested prey increased through larval development for all species examined, but at different rates. Niche breadth (i.e. range of sizes of ingested prey, estimated as the standard deviation of log-transformed prey sizes) was con- stant throughout growth. The larvae actively selected certain prey sizes; selection changed during development, and varied between species. This variability appears to be related to interspecific morphological differences, and may constitute a strategy to optimize the utilization of trophic resources in the oligotrophic open-ocean habitat.


Black-Box Search Algorithms (BBSAs) tailored to a specific problem class may be expected to significantly outperform more general purpose problem solvers, including canonical evolutionary algorithms. Recent work has introduced a novel approach to evolving tailored BBSAs through a genetic programming hyper-heuristic. However, that first generation of hyper-heuristics suffered from over-specialization. This paper presents a study on the second generation hyper-heuristic which employs a multi-sample training approach to alleviate the over-specialization problem. In particular, the study is focused on the affect that the multi-sample approach has on the problem configuration landscape. A variety of experiments are reported on which demonstrate the significant increase in the robustness of the generated algorithms to changes in problem configuration due to the multi-sample approach. The results clearly show the resulting BBSAs' ability to outperform established BBSAs, including canonical evolutionary algorithms. The trade-off between a priori computational time and the generated algorithm robustness is investigated, demonstrating the performance gain possible given additional run-time.


Special and General theories of relativity may be considered as the most significant examples of integrative thinking. From these works we see that Albert Einstein attached great importance to how we understand geometry and dimensions. It is shown that physics powered by the new multidimensional elastic geometry is a reliable basis for science integration. Instead of searching for braneworlds (elastic membranes - EM) in higher dimensions we will start by searching them in our 3+1 dimensional world. The cornerstone of the new philosophy is an idea that lower dimensional EMs are an essential component of the living matter, they are responsible for our perceptions, intellect, pattern recognition and high speed signal propagation. According to this theory each EM has both physical and perceptive (psychological) meanings: it exists as our Universe-like physical reality for its inner objects and at the same time it plays perceptive (psychological) role in the external bulk space-time. This philosophy may help us to build up a science which explains not only inanimate, unconscious phenomena, but consciousness as well.


In this paper, we will discuss a study whose concern is to identify and develop areas of food distribution by testing a model that allows the practitioners to participate in the exploring of their own stories of everyday practice. The fundamental reason for engaging the practitioners in the research was to facilitate them in obtaining tools to reflect on practice and to inform about future actions. Our intention was to use PAR as the approach as to building a bridge between theory and practice for which the SDM proved to be suitable for gaining and analysing data. Some of the links between the PAR approach and the SDM are that both consist of continuous cycles of reflection and learning. The stories should be used as a powerful vehicle to discover new knowledge and to deepen the understanding of professional practice issues. Reflection and story telling are closely related to the processing of information and gaining new insights from experiences. To take stories from practitioners' own experience is similar to that of the 'look phase' of PAR, which implies that what is happening is described and thus clarifies the core problem of what the practitioners would like to change. The 'think phase' of PAR, and the structured dialogue in the SDM, involves detailed descriptions, explanations and the exploring of the issues that are aggregated and focused on in the structured dialogue around questions such as: What can we do to move on; what actions could be taken; what happens if nothing is done; and what are the possible effects. Actual stories were used as "triggers" when probing questions were asked in a dialogical and structured form. The process involves the combination of having a dialogue and writing memo notes. The dialogue on various strategies, including weaknesses and strengths, continues until each action and the expected benefits of a chosen action have been adequately discussed. The dialogue has a constant focus on what is of greatest importance for a chosen action from an ethical, legal, economic, collaborative and organisational point of view. Furthermore, the dialogue evaluation emphasises on how participants reflect on what the expected change is, how change comes about, and what the consequences of the change imply. Our conclusion is that the PAR approach and the use of SDM are suitable and systematic methods to generate data and to encourage collaboration between various professional groups, i.e. an active participation through dialogue where there are no restrictions in the communication and everybody's voice is heard equally. In this study, as to critically reflect on how the SDM embodies a participatory and an 'action' oriented approach implies that, as a platform, an actual, real, case from practice was used. Chosen jointly and in agreement by the practitioners, the case should always be one with which all can be familiar and treat as their own. The starting point was our perception that the practitioners are the experts in their particular everyday work, and that they are able to identify problems themselves, which would be resolvable through actions and changes in the daily routines. Another benefit of involving the practitioners was how their motivation to make changes to a particular problem they had deemed important to resolve increased. The systemic issues, which were identified in the study, call attention to the importance of systematic collaboration, and by using the SDM, issues that concern the organisation and its practice directly may be explored. This cyclical process provided an expanded understanding about the food distribution context. In addition, the dialogue has developed over time from focusing on formal aspects, such as routines, competence levels, responsibility and how to fill in forms, to include more organisational aspects. The practitioners felt that structured dialogues and reflecting gave them a better understanding about the food distribution context. The reciprocal relations that were rendered in the non-restrictive communication – down-up and up-down in PAR – were identified as important. Another important insight was that support from the parent organisation was necessary when actions were to be taken and changes in practice were to be made. In closing, the study stems from our shared deep engagement and absorption in practice and together we saw how stories unfolded. It became clear that a greater understanding of and by the various professional groups would have to be obtained in order to achieve changes in the practice of food distribution to elderly persons for which such understanding is a necessary starting point.


In recent years, scholars have devoted considerable attention to transnational networks of financial regulators and their efforts to develop uniform standards and best practices. These networks, however, coexist with an emerging trend toward regional and bilateral mutual recognition arrangements. This Article proposes a theoretical account of mutual recognition that identifies its potential benefits, the cooperation problems it raises, and the resulting institutional frameworks in multilateral and bilateral settings. The multilateral model adopted in Europe relies on extensive delegation to supranational institutions, cross-issue linkages, and political checks on delegation. An alternative bilateral model, illustrated by the recent arrangement between the SEC and Australia, relies on selective membership, bilateral enforcement, and limited duration and renegotiation clauses. The multilateral model is unlikely to be effective without strong, preexisting supranational institutions – in other words, outside Europe. Therefore, international efforts at mutual recognition are more likely to resemble the SEC's program. This bilateral model, however, is most likely to succeed between jurisdictions with developed financial markets as well as similar regulatory objectives and resources. It also requires sufficient private demand and enhanced cross-border supervision and enforcement agreements. Finally, it is less likely to be effective where one country seeks to improve regulatory standards in the other. These insights are relevant for other contemporary mutual recognition initiatives, such as between Europe and third countries and within ASEAN.


Fu's subcutaneous needling (FSN) uses disposable FSN acupuncture needle as its tool to stimulate the subcutaneous layer by doing horizontal sweeping manipulation. Needling sites are mainly selected around or near tightened muscles which contain one or several myofascial trigger points and cause pain or other illnesses. FSN therapy is originated from classics and based on clinical practice. Out of inheritance and innovation, it is the scientific research achievement of Fu Zhonghua and his research team over 22 years of hard work. It is the original and innovative technology with independent intellectual property rights. FSN therapy is safe, nontoxic, and has no side effect. This chapter is drafted in order to facilitate clinical study and application, by which the terms and definitions, indications and contraindications, operating procedures, exceptions, and the relative handling as well as precautions are written down.


Data from a moderate energy, meso-tidal beach on the east side of Delaware Bay, New Jersey, USA, revealed the significance of both beach width as a source for aeolian transport and the effect of tidal rise on source width. Wind speeds averaged over 17·1 min, recorded 6 m above the crest of a 0·5 m high dune, ranged from 11·6 to 12·7 m s−1 during the experiment. The highest observed rate of transport on the beach was 0·0085 kg m−1 s−1, monitored at rising low tide when the average wind speed was 11·6 m s−1 across 0·35 mm diameter surface sediments. The wind direction was oblique to the shoreline, creating a source width of 34 m. The reduction in the width of the beach as a source for aeolian transport during rising tide was approximately arithmetic, whereas the reduction in volume of sediment trapped was exponential. Aeolian transport effectively ceased when source width was less than 8 m. Wind conditions, moisture content of the surface sediments and presence of binding salts did not appear to vary dramatically, and no coarse grained lag deposit formed on the surface of the beach. The decrease in rate of sediment trapped through time in the tidal cycle is attributed to differences in source width. Sediment deposited in the litter behind the active beach by strong winds during the rising tide was eroded during the high water period by the high waves and storm surge generated by these winds, and net losses of sediment were observed despite initial aeolian accretion.


The hit-to-lead and lead optimization processes usually involve the design, synthesis, and profiling of thousands of analogs prior to clinical candidate nomination. A hit finding campaign may begin with a virtual screen that explores millions of compounds; if not more. However, this scale of computational profiling is not frequently performed in the hit-to-lead or lead optimization phases of drug discovery. This is likely due to the lack of appropriate computational tools to generate synthetically tractable lead-like compounds in silico, and a lack of computational methods to accurately profile compounds prospectively on a large scale. Recent advances in computational power and methods provide the ability to profile much larger libraries of ligands than previously possible. Herein, we report a new computational technique, referred to as 'PathFinder', that uses retrosynthetic analysis followed by combinatorial synthesis to generate novel compounds in synthetically accessible chemical space. In this work, the integration of PathFinder-driven compound generation, cloud-based FEP simulations, and active learning are used to rapidly optimize R-groups, and generate new cores for inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2). Using this approach, we explored > 300,000 ideas, performed > 5,000 FEP simulations, and identified > 100 ligands with a predicted IC50 < 100 nM, including four unique cores. To our knowledge, this is the largest set of FEP calculations disclosed in the literature to date. The rapid turnaround time, and scale of chemical exploration, suggests that this is a useful approach to accelerate the discovery of novel chemical matter in drug discovery campaigns.


Predefined, researcher-selected outcomes are routinely used as the clinical end-point in randomised controlled trials (RCTs); however, individualised approaches may be an effective way to assess outcome in mental health research. The present study describes the development and evaluation of the Individualised Outcome Measure (IOM), which is a patient-specific outcome measure to be used for RCTs of complex interventions. IOM was developed using a narrative review, expert consultation and piloting with mental health service users (n=20). The final version of IOM comprises two components: Goal Attainment (GA) and Personalised Primary Outcome (PPO). For GA, patients identify one relevant goal at baseline and rate its attainment at follow-up. For PPO, patients choose an outcome domain related to their goal from a predefined list at baseline, and complete a standardised questionnaire assessing the chosen outcome domain at baseline and follow-up. A feasibility study indicated that IOM had adequate completion (89%) and acceptability (96%) rates in a clinical sample (n=84). IOM was then evaluated in an RCT (ISRCTN02507940). GA and PPO components were associated with each other and with the trial primary outcome. The use of the PPO component of IOM as the primary outcome could be considered in future RCTs.


Upper Terciary volcanism from southern Mendoza. The petrology and geochemistry of the exposed Tertiary volcanic units in southern Mendoza Province are described for the first time. The formal stratigraphic nomenclature and ages are analyzed and a stratigraphic basis is established for successive magmatic events occurring during the Neogene, starting with the evolution of the retro-arc followed by a younger magmatic arc. Every attempt is made to respect the existing stratigraphic nomenclature although, in part, unit definition should be based more on radiometric ages and ages of crystallization rather than on individual petrographic features. The magmatic activity extended from the Upper Oligocene to the Upper Miocene evolving from the early magmatism of the Ciclo Eruptivo Molle to the Ciclo Eruptivo Huincan. The Oligocene to Upper Miocene magmatic activity in southern Mendoza Province evolved through a process beginning with an initial episode of basaltic magmatism (Ciclo Eruptivo Molle). This activity also generated a lower crust dominated by the concentration of gabbros, diorites and hybrid rocks (mafic granulites). Due to Upper Miocene tectonic crustal thickening or to the stagnation of the magmas or a combination of both, the formation of garnet-bearing mafic granulites resulted in the production of a distinctive lower crust. The magmatic arc of the Ciclo Eruptivo Huincan (upper Miocene) developed as magma ascended from a mantle source and encountered the garnet-bearing mafic lower crust. Because of a lack of density contrast with these lower crustal rocks, the magma lost the ability to ascend further. This encounter between the mantle magma and the lower crust produced partial melting and homogenization of these two sources. This resulted in the ascent of the "secondary" magmas, produced in equilibrium with the lower crust, which characterize the resulting magmatic arc volcanism.


Abstract. Underwater caves represent the most challenging scenario for exploration, mapping and 3D modelling. In such complex environment, unsuitable to humans, highly specialized skills and expensive equipment are normally required. Technological progress and scientific innovation attempt, nowadays, to develop safer and more automatic approaches for the virtualization of these complex and not easily accessible environments, which constitute a unique natural, biological and cultural heritage. This paper presents a pilot study realised for the virtualization of 'Grotta Giusti' (Fig. 1), an underground semi-submerged cave system in central Italy. After an introduction on the virtualization process in the cultural heritage domain and a review of techniques and experiences for the virtualization of underground and submerged environments, the paper will focus on the employed virtualization techniques. In particular, the developed approach to simultaneously survey the semi-submersed areas of the cave relying on a stereo camera system and the virtualization of the virtual cave will be discussed.


Latent variable models provide valuable compact representations for learning and inference in many computer vision tasks. However, most existing models cannot directly encode prior knowledge about the specific problem at hand. In this paper, we introduce a constrained latent variable model whose generated output inherently accounts for such knowledge. To this end, we propose an approach that explicitly imposes equality and inequality constraints on the model's output during learning, thus avoiding the computational burden of having to account for these constraints at inference. Our learning mechanism can exploit non-linear kernels, while only involving sequential closed-form updates of the model parameters. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our constrained latent variable model on the problem of non-rigid 3D reconstruction from monocular images, and show that it yields qualitative and quantitative improvements over several baselines.


My aim in this book has been to give an account of the theoretical methods of analysis of multiphoton processes in atomic physics. In this account I have emphasized systematic methods as opposed to ad hoc approaches. Both perturbative and nonperturbative methods are presented with il- lustrative results of concrete applications. The perturbation theory is the primary tool of analysis of nonresonant multiphoton processes. It is developed here in conjunction with a diagrammatic language and is also renormalized to free it from the unwanted divergences which accompany the ordinary treatment when higher-order corrections are considered. The nonperturbative methods (i.e., methods other than that of power series ex- pansion in the field strength) become particularly important for consistent treatments of problems involving, for example, intermediate resonances, high field strengths, and finite pulse duration. The specifically nonpertur- bative methods for multiphoton transitions are presented in Chapters 6-11. The methods of resolvent equations and of effective Hamiltonians are developed for both the stationary and the time-dependent fields. The densi- ty matrix method is presented in conjunction with the problems of relaxa- tion and of fluctuating fields. The Floquet theory is presented both in the energy domain and in the time domain. Also treated are the methods of continued fractions, recursive iterative equations, and chain Hamiltonians.


As the MHK industry moves forward to the commercial phase, knowledge of potential environmental effects need to be documented and established. At present, the potential for fish interactions and subsequent injury or mortality are a significant concern with instream turbines. Sensors, methodologies, and analyses need to be developed to detect strike or near-miss events. These data will reduce uncertainty of the likelihood of such events and provide information to regulators to make informed decisions on permitting and possible mitigation measures if needed. Acoustic telemetry is a primary method for studying fine-scale fish movements because it can remotely track fish in three dimensions with accuracy. The Juvenile Salmon Acoustic Telemetry System (JSATS) developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has proven effective for fish passage estimates and fine-scale movement in river impoundments and near dams. Leveraging the success of previous JSATS applications and applying it to the marine environment, juvenile sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) were tagged and tracked using a fixed-position receiver array in a marine tidal channel for the first time. Applying this technology to future installations of MHK turbines will provide information on fish avoidance and evasion behavior as well as blade strike and potential injury and mortality.


Single-word vector space models have been very successful at learning lexical information. However, they cannot capture the compositional meaning of longer phrases, preventing them from a deeper understanding of language. We introduce a recursive neural network (RNN) model that learns compositional vector representations for phrases and sentences of arbitrary syntactic type and length. Our model assigns a vector and a matrix to every node in a parse tree: the vector captures the inherent meaning of the constituent, while the matrix captures how it changes the meaning of neighboring words or phrases. This matrix-vector RNN can learn the meaning of operators in propositional logic and natural language. The model obtains state of the art performance on three different experiments: predicting fine-grained sentiment distributions of adverb-adjective pairs; classifying sentiment labels of movie reviews and classifying semantic relationships such as cause-effect or topic-message between nouns using the syntactic path between them.


This study of international stock returns between January 1992 and December 2000 shows that, on average, country effects dominated industry effects as an explanation of the sources of stock return variation. The authors also find across-country diversification to be more efficient than diversification across industries. During this period, country effects continued to decline, however, while industry effects increased in importance so that they exceeded the country effects in 1999–2000. When four global risk factor loadings are introduced, the same trends are observed for country and industry effects. More important, global risk effects were accentuated, becoming even more significant than country and industry effects in 2000.