Purpose: To overcome methodology limitations for studying auditory development in young children, we have recently developed an observer-based procedure that uses a conditioned, play-based, motor response (see Bonino & Leibold, 2017). The purpose of this article was to examine interrater reliability for the method.Method: Video recordings of test sessions of 2- to 4-year-old children (n = 17) were examined. Detection of a 1000-Hz warble tone was measured with the Play Observer-Based, Two-Interval (PlayO2I) method in each of two conditions: for a fixed intensity level (30 dB SPL) or for a variable intensitylevel signal (0–30 dB SPL). All test sessions were scored independently by three observers (one real-time, two offline). Observer consensus was evaluated with Fleiss' kappa statistic. To determine if summary data were similar across the observers of each test session, the proportion of correct trials (fixed-level condition) or threshold (variable-level condition) were computed.Results: The strength of observer consensus was classified as "almost perfect" and "substantial" for the fixed-level and variable-level conditions, respectively. Follow-up analysis of the variable-level data indicated that differences in observer consensus were seen based on the signal level, the type of response behavior provided by the child, and the confidence level of the real-time observer. Resulting summary data were similar across the three observers of each test session: no significant differences for estimates of the proportion of correct trials or threshold.Conclusions: Results from this study confirm strong interrater reliability for the method. The PlayO2I method is a powerful tool for measuring detection and discrimination abilities in young children. Supplemental Material S1. (Table) Age and number of trials completed in each condition are provided for individual children. The total number of trials completed by a child is shown in parentheses, and the number outside the parentheses indicates the number of trials that were included in the analyses. Excluded trials were due to equipment malfunction or missing offline coding data. Supplemental Material S2. (Figure) Based on data from the offline observers, we computed the proportion of trials in which each of the eight auditory behaviors were coded for the fixed-level condition. The pattern of behavior is shown for individual children, rank ordered by age. For reference, the average pattern of performance is provided in the last column (AVG = average). Trials in which no behavior was observed were excluded (< 4% of trials). Supplemental Material S3. (Table) Fleiss' kappa statistics for individual test sessions are provided for the variable-level condition. In addition to the overall values computed by including all trials, three comparisons were computed based on classifying trials based on the signal intensity level relative to the estimated threshold that corresponds to the 71%-correct point (at or above versus below), the type of child behavior (full play-based response versus all other behaviors), and the real-time observer's confidence level ("confident" versus "not confident"). Supplemental Material S4. (Figure) Based on data from the offline observers, we computed the proportion of trials in which each of the eight auditory behaviors were coded for the variable-level condition. The pattern of behavior is shown for individual children, rank ordered by age. For reference, the average pattern of performance is provided in the last column (AVG = average). Trials in which no behavior was observed were excluded (11.2% of trials). Supplemental Material S5. (Table) The three-way cross tabulation for the intensity level of the signal, the child response behavior, and the observer's confidence in the judgement is shown for the variable level data. Supplemental Material S6. (Table) Coefficient estimates and corresponding p-values from the Poisson generalized linear model (GLM) are shown. The outcome is the number of trials with the following explanatory variables: intensity level of the signal, the child response behavior, and the observer's confidence in the judgement. An asterisk indicates significance at the .05 level and three asterisks indicate a p-value of less than .001. Supplemental Material S7. (Figure) Evaluation of interval bias was completed by fitting psychometric functions (lines) to pooled data (circles) from real-time observers (left panel) or offline observers (right panel) by signal position: interval 1 (red) or interval 2 (blue). Symbol size indicates the number of observations. For comparison, data and fits when both intervals are included are provided in black. The appearance of "finger bias" for the real-time observer data indicates a bias towards interval 2 when guessing. Bonino, A. Y., Wiens, A., Nightengale, E. C., & Vance, E. A. (2020). Interrater reliability for a two-interval, observer-based procedure for measuring hearing in young children. American Journal of Audiology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1044/2020_AJA-20-00022


In early 2020, in the face of the global Covid-19 pandemic, numerous parliaments played their rightful democratic role by following the advice of health and economic experts and swiftly passing emergency legislation and relief packages. This was, in many countries, an attempt to reach an equilibrium between saving lives and saving economic livelihoods, on the understanding that both were in serious jeopardy. In the face of public health measures many parliaments also found themselves having to reform their own rules, procedures and practices. In both cases – policy interventions and institutional redesign – it appears that parliamentary responses to the Covid-19 situation were less commonly based on the advice of gender experts or informed by considerations of gender inequalities. Few, if any, emergency packages were designed following a systematic consideration of existing, deeply entrenched gender inequalities, despite continuous public analysis and commentary about the disproportionate gender impacts of the pandemic and the resulting lockdowns; and no parliaments instituted (temporary) rule changes that prioritized the voices of women parliamentarians or constituents. In this article, which draws on our work drafting the UN Women Covid-19 Parliamentary Primer & Checklist, we revisit the democratic case for gendersensitive parliaments, highlighting their particular relevance to the 2020 pandemic. We introduce our model for gender-sensitive crisis responses across four key stages of the parliamentary process presented in the Primer – representation, deliberation, legislation and scrutiny – and offer an initial assessment of what transpired in the world's parliaments based on an IPU survey. We suggest that if parliaments are to be gender-sensitive institutions in times of crisis, they must not only change how they do politics but also develop and sustain a robust political culture that values gender equality and an ethic of caring that supports new rules, procedures and practices that better redress institutional gender deficiencies.


Augmenting everyday objects with interactive input and output surfaces is a long-standing topic in ubiquitous computing and HCI research. Existing approaches, however, fail to leverage the objects' full potential, particularly in highly curved organic geometries and in diverse visuo-haptic surface properties. We contribute ObjectSkin, a fabrication technique for adding conformal interactive surfaces to rigid and flexible everyday objects. It enables multi-touch sensing and display output that seamlessly integrates with highly curved and irregular geometries. The approach is based on a novel water-transfer process for interactive surfaces. It leverages off-the-shelf hobbyist equipment to fabricate thin, conformal, and translucent electronic circuits that preserve the surface characteristics of everyday objects. It offers two methods, for rapid low-fidelity and versatile high-fidelity prototyping, and is applicable to a wide variety of materials. Results from a series of technical experiments provide insights into the supported object geometries, compatible object materials, and robustness. Seven example cases demonstrate how ObjectSkin makes it possible to leverage geometries, surface properties, and unconventional objects for prototyping novel interactions for ubiquitous computing.


Despite interesting patterns from the past and at least superficially striking parallels with the present, policies on Afghanistan have not been adequately informed by an understanding of the country's history. Nor has the extensive academic literature on Afghan history been translated into policy; on the contrary, much that has been attempted in Afghanistan since late 2001 has been remarkably ahistorical. This report identifies broad historical patterns and distills relevant lessons that may be applicable to policies during the 2011 to 2014 transition and beyond. Responsibility for the views expressed and any errors is solely the author's.


Direct certification simplifies the process of certifying certain children for free school meals by eliminating the need for households to apply. The 2004 Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act required all local educations agencies (LEAs) to establish a system of direct certification by school year 2008-2009 for children from households receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP—formerly the Food Stamp Program) benefits. Seventy-eight percent of all LEAs directly certified some SNAP participants in school year 2008-2009. These LEAs enroll 96 percent of all students in schools participating in the National School Lunch Program. The percentage of SNAP-participant children who were directly certified varied greatly across states. States with the highest rates were able to directly certify all or nearly all eligible children. The least successful states certified no more than 50 percent. Half of all states directly certified at least 72 percent of school-age SNAP participants. Mathematica's contribution to this report included interviewing states with high rates of direct certification and documenting best practices.


This work presents new development and applications of ab-initio simulation tools for material science. Focus lies on materials with strong electronic correlation and strong spin-orbit coupling. Improvements on methods for solving the impurity problem in LDA+DMFT is presented, as well as a reliant method for charge self-consistency in a LMTO based electronic structure code. A new adaptive scheme for Brillouin zone integration is developed, where we show a strong reduction of numerical noise compared to standard techniques. A reformulation of the standard LDA+U method aiming to reduce the number of free parameters is introduced. Fast and realistic reduction of the number of free parameters provides the possibility of high throughput calculations and enabled us to study a large number of compounds. An analysis method for polarization in terms of coupled multipoles, and their corresponding energy contributions is developed and applied. This led to the formulation of Katt's rules, a set of rules complementary to Hund's rules. Katt's rules applies for occupying the orbitals of an electronic shell with strong spin-orbit coupling. The analysis is also used to investigate the unconventional Uranium based superconductors URu2Si2, UPt3, UPd2Al3 and UNi2Al3, as well as the high temperature superconductor LaOFeAs. We also investigate the non-magnetic delta-phase of Plutonium, providing insight to the electronic structure and the branching ratios of 4d to 5f transitions seen in photo emission spectra.The influence of surface reconstruction on the magneto crystalline anisotropy is investigated in multilayer Fe/ZnSe, showing that Fe deposited on an unreconstructed interface strongly reduces the uniaxial component of the MAE. We provide a detailed understanding of the magnetic properties of Fe2P, opening possible routes for enhancing the MAE in this system. A general route to strong MAE in nano-laminates is presented, we apply this to propose a candidate with extremely strong anisotropy energy density, 5Fe/2W1-xReX for x=[0.6-0.8].


Adobe AIR is a revolutionary technology that blurs the line between the desktop and the web. The AIR Bible will get developers up and running building simple AIR application, then take them through all aspects of the new API. The authors have a wealth of experience in building Rich Internet Applications using Flex, Flash, HTML, and Ajax. They will bring their experience to the table walking the reader through application programming topics and demystifying the techniques developers use to build the kind of complex application that readers are sure to want to build with this exciting new technology.


This article considers the possible influences of the physiognomic studies on the Romantic portrait, using as paradigms Gericault's Portraits de Monomanes. Painted during the period of the very beginning of French psychiatry, at a time when this new discipline began to recognize the presence of the subject in the madman, these works question the dialogue engaged between art and psychiatry, between insanity and reason, between the visibility and invisibility of madness on human features. In considering this crossed gaze on the insane thus engendered, this article delves specifically into two facets of this duality. First, it examines the development of medico-legal psychiatry, in favour of which the alienist Jean-Etienne Georget—presumed owner of the Monomanes—had actively worked in an effort to impose his discipline as the only one able to recognize the invisible marks of mental illness. Second, it considers a series of works commissioned by the alienist Jean-Etienne-Dominique Esquirol from two artists: Georges-Francois-Marie Gabriel and Ambroise Tardieu. It is argued that these works, as for Gericault's Monomanes, individualize the insane in the early nineteenth century and acquire a characteristic specific to the genre of portraiture: recognition and commemoration of a subject.


BACKGROUND
Controversies still exist regarding the existence of a 'safe' level of alcohol intake during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to assess the risk of fetal death (spontaneous abortion and stillbirth) according to maternal alcohol consumption in a large Danish pregnancy cohort.

METHODS
A cohort study carried out within the framework of the Danish National Birth Cohort. A total of the 92 719 participants enrolled in the Danish National Birth Cohort who provided information about lifestyle during first trimester of pregnancy were included in the study. Information about average weekly consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, smoking, coffee drinking, occupational status and reproductive history were obtained by means of computer-assisted telephone interviews. Pregnancy outcomes (spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, live birth and other pregnancy outcome) and gestational age at end of pregnancy were obtained through register linkage with the Civil Registration System and the National Discharge Registry. Data were analysed using Cox regression models, taking the varying gestational age at recruitment and time-dependent co-variables into account.

RESULTS
Fifty-five per cent of the participants abstained from alcohol drinking during pregnancy and only 2.2% reported four or more drinks per week. The adjusted hazard ratios for fetal death in first trimester were 1.66 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.43-1.92] and 2.82 (95% CI 2.27-3.49) for women who reported 2-3½; drinks per week and 4 or more drinks per week, respectively, and 1.57 (95% CI 1.30-1.90) and 1.73 (95% CI 1.24-2.41) for fetal death during pregnancy weeks 13-16. No increased risk was found for fetal death after 16 weeks of pregnancy.

CONCLUSIONS
Even low amounts of alcohol consumption during early pregnancy increased the risk of spontaneous abortion substantially. The results indicate that the fetus is particularly susceptible to alcohol exposure early in pregnancy.


Driver error currently causes the vast majority of motor vehicle crashes. By eliminating the human driver, autonomous vehicles will prevent thousands of fatalities and serious bodily injuries, which make a compelling safety case for policies that foster the rapid development of this technology. Major technological advances have occurred over the past decade, but there is widespread concern that the rate of development is hampered by uncertainty about manufacturer liabilities for a crash. Apparent variations in the requirements of state tort law across the country make it difficult for manufacturers to assess their liability exposure in the national market. The patchwork of state laws and resultant uncertainty have prompted calls for the federal safety regulation of autonomous vehicles.
The uncertainty seems to be the inevitable result of trying to predict how tort rules governing old technologies will apply to the new technology of automated driving. As I will attempt to demonstrate, however, well-established tort doctrines widely adopted by most states, if supplemented by two new federal safety regulations, would provide a comprehensive regulatory approach that would largely dissipate the costly legal uncertainty now looming over this emerging technology.
The technology itself largely solves the most vexing tort problems for reasons that prior analyses have missed. Autonomous vehicles will transform the individualized behavior of human drivers into a collective, systemized form of driving. In effect, a single driver — the operating system — will guide an entire fleet of these vehicles, determining how each vehicle executes the dynamic driving task. When the fully functioning operating system causes a crash, the vehicle was engaged in systemized driving that should be evaluated through performance data for the fleet, regardless of the particular circumstances of the crash. Aggregate driving data can resolve otherwise difficult tort questions. Most importantly, the manufacturer would necessarily satisfy its tort obligation regarding the reasonably safe programming or design of the operating system if the aggregate, premarket testing data sufficiently show that the fleet of fully functioning autonomous vehicles performs at least twice as safely as conventional vehicles. To avoid liability for the crash of such a vehicle, the manufacturer must also adequately warn consumers about this inherent risk. Once again, the risk involves systemized driving performance, and so aggregate driving data provide the appropriate measure. Based on these data, auto insurers can establish the risk-adjusted annual premium for insuring the vehicle. By disclosing such a premium to consumers, the manufacturer would satisfy its obligation to warn about the inherent risk of crash, eliminating this final source of manufacturer liability for crashes caused by a fully functioning autonomous vehicle.
The collective learning of state tort law can then inform federal regulations governing the reasonable safety of automated driving technologies. The foregoing analysis is based on tort rules that have been widely adopted across the country. States that do not follow the majority approach might reach different conclusions. To ensure that manufacturers face uniform obligations within the national market, the National Highway Transit Safety Administration could adopt two federal regulations that clearly fit within its proposed regulatory approach. Each derives from the associated tort obligations concerning adequate premarket testing and disclosure of the inherent risk of crash, respectively. These regulations would largely retain the role of tort law, because regulatory compliance would also satisfy the associated tort obligations in most states, while impliedly preempting these claims in the remaining states. The regulations would promote the federal interest in uniformity in a manner that minimizes the displacement of state tort law, thereby optimally solving the federalism problem.
State tort law can then supplement the federal regulations in important instances, yielding a comprehensive regulatory approach. Within this legal framework, a regulatory-compliant autonomous vehicle would subject the manufacturer to tort liability only for crashes caused by malfunctioning physical hardware (strict products liability); malfunctions of the operating system due to either programming error (same) or third-party hacking (strict liability again, with an important caveat); the manufacturer's failure to adequately warn about safe deployment of the vehicle (an ordinary products liability claim); or the manufacturer's failure to treat consumers and bystanders equally when designing the vehicle and its operating system (an ordinary negligence claim). A manufacturer would also be subject to tort liability for not complying with the federal regulations (negligence per se). The potential liabilities would not be overly uncertain. Autonomous vehicles can be regulated in a manner that ensures reasonable safety without impeding the development of this life-saving technology.


The failure of governments' top-bottom measures of poverty reduction in Nigeria suggests that poverty reduction is the most difficult challenge facing the country and the greatest obstacle to the pursuit of sustainable socio-economic growth, hence the need to re-think about bottom-top approaches to poverty reduction . This study examined the contribution of rice processing and marketing to poverty reduction in Kwande local government area of Benue State, Nigeria. The study used stratified random sampling technique to select 400 respondents for the study; 400 questionnaires were administered on the respondents and only 350 questionnaires were retrieved. Descriptive statistical tools, Foster-Greer-Thorbecke poverty index, cost-benefit analysis, and logit regression were used to analyze the data. The study revealed the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents. It was discovered that the quantity of rice processed and marketed in Kwande local government over time was on the increase and that rice processing and marketing has consistently provided employment for people in the area over time.


The freshwater polychaete, Manayunkia speciosa Leidy (Canalipalpata: Sabellidae), is the intermediate host for two myxozoan pathogens (Ceratomyxa shasta and Parvicapsula minibicornis) that cause substantial mortalities of juvenile salmon in the Pacific Northwest, particularly in the Klamath River below Iron Gate Dam in California. Information on the distribution of M. speciosa in the Klamath River may facilitate targeted control of polychaete populations to disrupt the parasites that affect fish populations. We sampled invertebrate assemblages in the lower Klamath River in the summer and fall of 2005 and 2006 to estimate distribution patterns of M. speciosa and to characterize assemblage structure of invertebrates in reaches where the polychaete was both collected and not collected. The polychaete was most often found in a reach of river extending 100 km downstream from the Shasta River (river km 185–287). The reach in which it was found supported high taxonomic richness of invertebrates and a high abundance of filtering collectors including marine relicts such as sponges, unionid mussels, and bryozoans. We suggest that the large, stable substrate on which these were found represents primary, optimal habitat for the polychaete, also a marine relict. Reaches above and below the zone where we collected polychaetes showed a general trend of reduced taxonomic richness as distance away from the polychaete zone increased, and also showed differing relative abundances of non-insect taxa and functional feeding groups. Differences in invertebrate assemblages between years were coincident with large differences in water flows. We suggest flows and food resources may play important roles in invertebrate distribution patterns.


We have modelled the phase diagram of magnetic shape memory alloys of the Heusler type by using the phenomenological Ginzburg–Landau theory. When fixing the parameters by realistic values taken from experiment we are able to reproduce most details of, for example, the phase diagram of Ni2+xMn1−xGa in the (T, x) plane. We present the results of ab initio calculations of the electronic and phonon properties of several ferromagnetic Heusler alloys, which allow one to characterize the structural changes associated with the martensitic instability leading to the modulated and tetragonal phases. From the ab initio investigations emerges a complex pattern of the interplay of magic valence electron per atom numbers (Hume–Rothery rules for magnetic ternary alloys), Fermi surface nesting and phonon instability. As the main result, we find that the driving force for structural transformations is considerably enhanced by the extremely low lying optical modes of Ni in the Ni-based Heusler alloys, which interfere with the acoustical modes enhancing phonon softening of the TA2 mode. In contrast, the ferromagnetic Co-based Heusler alloys show no tendency for phonon softening.


Wi-Fi-enabled portable devices have recently been introduced into the consumer electronics market. These devices download or upload content, from or to a host machine, such as a personal computer, a laptop, a home gateway, or a media server. This paper investigates the fairness among multiple Wi-Fi-enabled portable devices in a home network when they are simultaneously communicated with the host machine. First, we present that, a simple IEEE 802.11-based home network suffers from unfairness, and the fairness is exaggerated by the wireless link errors. This unfairness is due to the asymmetric response of the TCP to data-packet loss and to acknowledgment-packet loss, and the wireless link errors that occur in the proximity of any node; the errors affect other wireless devices through the interaction at the interface queue of the home gateway. We propose a QoS-provisioning framework in order to achieve per-device fairness and service differentiation. For this purpose, we introduce the medium access price, which denotes an aggregate value of network-wide traffic load, per-device link usage, and per-device link error rate. We implemented the proposed framework in the ns-2 simulator, and carried out a simulation study to evaluate its performance with respect to fairness, service differentiation, loss and delay. The simulation results indicate that the proposed method enforces the per-device fairness, regardless of the number of devices present and regardless of the level of wireless link errors; furthermore it achieves high link utilization with only a small amount of frame losses.


Mathematical models, that depict the dynamics of a cancer cell population growing out of the human body (in vitro) in unconstrained microenvironment conditions, are considered in this thesis. Cancer cells in vitro grow and divide much faster than cancer cells in the human body, therefore, the effects of various cancer treatments applied to them can be identified much faster. These cell populations, when not exposed to any cancer treatment, exhibit exponential growth that we refer to as the balanced exponential growth (BEG) state. This observation has led to several effective methods of estimating parameters that thereafter are not required to be determined experimentally. We present derivation of the age-structured model and its theoretical analysis of the existence of the solution. Furthermore, we have obtained the condition for BEG existence using the PerronFrobenius theorem. A mathematical description of the cell-cycle control is shown for one-compartment and two-compartment populations, where a compartment refers to a cell population consisting of cells that exhibit similar kinetic properties. We have incorporated into our mathematical model the required growing/aging times in each phase of the cell cycle for the biological viability. Moreover, we have derived analytical formulae for vital parameters in cancer research, such as population doubling time, the average cell-cycle age, and the average removal age from all phases, which we argue is the average cell-cycle time of the population. An estimate of the average cell-cycle time is of a particular interest for biologists and clinicians, and for patient survival prognoses as it is considered that short cell-cycle times correlate with poor survival prognoses for patients. Applications of our mathematical model to experimental data have been shown. First, we have derived algebraic expressions to determine the population doubling time from single experimental observation as an alternative to empirically constructed growth curve. This result is applicable to various types of cancer cell lines. One option to extend this model would be to derive the cellcycle time from a single experimental measurement. Second, we have applied our mathematical model to interpret and derive dynamic-depicting parameters of five melanoma cell lines exposed to radiotherapy. The mathematical result suggests there are shortcomings in the experimental methods and provides an insight into the cancer cell population dynamics during post radiotherapy. Finally, a mathematical model depicting a theoretical cancer cell population that comprises two sub-populations with different kinetic properties is presented to describe the transition of a primary culture to a cell line cell population.


Introduction: Type I diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease of children and young adults that selectively destroys the insulin-producing islet cells in the pancreas. NOD mice, the best validated animal model of T1D, manifests islet infiltration as early as 4 weeks, leading to β-cell destruction and eventually overt diabetes. This study was designed to determine the role of TRAIL, FASL and IFN-γ, components of innate immune system, in the biology of β-cell destruction in NOD mice.

Experiments: To test the hypothesis that differential expression of TNF superfamily ligands (TRAIL and FASL) affects tolerance mechanisms, I assessed the diabetes susceptibility of TRAIL-deficient NOD.Tnfsf10⁻/⁻ mice and of mice which exhibited allelic Fasl expression (NOD.D1Bax208ᵐ¹ and NOD.D1Bax208ᵐ²). Immune cells from these three mouse lines were systematically characterised by flowcytometry, and their diabetogenic potential determined by adoptive transfer experiments. β-cell response in a TRAIL deficient environment was assayed in islet cultures. Micro array analysis was performed to compare the β-cell response in mice with allelic Fasl expression. To investigate the role of IFN-γ in NOD diabetes, I assessed the diabetes susceptibility of targeted gene deficient mutants of Ifng (NOD.Ifng⁻/⁻) and the β chain of Ifng receptor (NOD.Ifngr2⁻/⁻). I examined the role of IFN-γ in BCG-induced diabetes protection by assessing diabetes susceptibility of BCG treated NOD.Ifng⁻/⁻ and NOD.Ifngr2⁻/⁻ mice, and by characterising their immune cell compartments. Further, the contribution of IFN-γ in accelerated precipitation of lupus in NOD mice was studied by administering 1mg BCG to NOD.Ifng⁻/⁻ and NOD.Ifngr2⁻/⁻ mice.

Results: Targeted deletion of TRAIL resulted in increased severity of spontaneous insulitis and an increased incidence of diabetes. This was the first ever demonstration of an increased incidence of spontaneous diabetes in NOD mice bearing a targeted deletion of TRAIL. Similarly, florid lymphoid infiltrates and high diabetes incidence in NOD.D1Bax208ᵐ² mice, which exhibited low FASL-expression, provided direct evidence for a protective role of this death ligand in autoimmune diabetes. Despite increased susceptibility to autoimmunity, tolerance mechanisms in these mouse strains were unaffected. In adoptive transfer experiments, numbers of diabetogenic T cells were found to be unchanged in NOD.Tnfsf10⁻/⁻ and NOD.D1Bax208ᵐ² donor mice, whereas NOD.Tnfsf10⁻/⁻ and NOD.D1Bax208ᵐ² recipient mice showed increased susceptibility to diabetes. These findings raised the possibility of TRAIL and FASL expression in the nonhematopoietic compartment conferring protection against T1D. LPS activation of NOD.Tnfsf10⁻/⁻ islets and comparison of gene expression profiles between NOD.D1Bax208ᵐ¹ and NOD.D1Bax208ᵐ² mice indicated that TRAIL and FASL regulated the islet-expression of the potent chemokine, Interferon-γ-induced protein-10 (IP-10) and the suppressor of cytokine signalling (SOCS1), a strong inhibitor of IFN-γ signalling. TRAIL and FASL-mediated suppression of IP-10, and upregulation of Socs1 transcription, rendered the NOD-islets less susceptible to immune destruction in T1D. Proinflammatory cytokine IFN-γ was not essential for diabetes development in NOD mice, but was vital for BCG-mediated diabetes protection. Diabetes incidence in NOD.Ifng⁻/⁻ mice was similar to that of WT NOD/Lt mice, however, BCG failed to inhibit the disease in mice lacking IFN-γ-signalling. IFN-γ-induced elimination of effector T cells played a role in BCG-mediated diabetes protection in NOD mice. At a high-dose of 1mg, BCG precipitated a systemic form of autoimmunity that had characteristics similar to human SLE, in these mice. However, I found that deficiency in IFN-γ-signalling abrogated the influence of BCG in mediating the expression of NODs tendency towards autoimmunity.

Conclusion: This study assessed the mechanism of protection mediated by TRAIL, FASL and IFN-γ, components of the innate immune system, in NOD diabetes. I observed a remarkable parallel between the β-cell protective effects of TRAIL and FASL, the two homologous TNF superfamily ligands. An exciting role for the proinflammatory cytokine IFN-γ, in modulating NOD diabetes in a BCG-mediated T1D-protection model, was also identified. Results discussed here provide insight into the islet immune specific regulatory role of TRAIL, FASL and IFN-γ in the pathogenesis of diabetes and suggest therapeutically beneficial strategies for islet preservation.


In this thesis, I have argued that only when literacy is understood as a social practice and the repertoires of the students who use it considered, can a spirit of learner-centeredness be enacted in Singapore's schools. It argues that adolescents engage in multimodal textual repertoires, in and out of school, which comprise the collective assembly, production on the go, multitasking and fun. These findings lead to an important understanding that literacy practices may be best understood as a complex configuration of school and home practices which cannot be easily disaggregated into separable school and home practices. This thesis also suggests that literacy and learning are inseparable in social practice, regardless of the sites of their occurrences. Rather than framing school and outside school as two clearly-bounded domains of literacy practices, this thesis contends that the connection between them is captured by the relationship amongst literacy demands, practices and technology affordances. Although this thesis shows that adolescents emphasise the social affordances of digital media in their out-of-school literacy practices, it argues that their participation in these practices have enabled them to meet the demands of their school work and thus sheds light on their ways of learning, namely learning by doing and social learning. Contrary to the widely-cited view that multiliteracies are paramount in this digital age, this thesis highlights the tension in adolescents' identities in learning and suggests that traditional print-based literacy in language learning remains key to their social futures. Drawing on the theoretical underpinnings of New Literacy Studies, this thesis adopted an ethnographic perspective to study ten 14-year-old Chinese adolescents' literacy practices in Singapore. Data for this thesis were collected over a period of eight months from participant observations, with video-and-audio recordings, conducted in a school in Singapore, semi-structured and in-depth text-elicited group and individual interviews, the adolescents' research diaries, and their artefacts from school and out-of-school literacy practices.


Abstract. This paper describes a method for using interferometer measurements of downwelling thermal radiation to retrieve the properties of single-layer clouds. Cloud phase is determined from ratios of thermal emission in three "micro-windows" at 862.5 cm−1, 935.8 cm−1, and 988.4 cm−1 where absorption by water vapour is particularly small. Cloud microphysical and optical properties are retrieved from thermal emission in the first two of these micro-windows, constrained by the transmission through clouds of primarily stratospheric ozone emission at 1040 cm−1. Assuming a cloud does not approximate a blackbody, the estimated 95% confidence retrieval errors in effective radius re, visible optical depth τ, number concentration N, and water path WP are, respectively, 10%, 20%, 38% (55% for ice crystals), and 16%. Applied to data from the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement programme (ARM) North Slope of Alaska – Adjacent Arctic Ocean (NSA-AAO) site near Barrow, Alaska, retrievals show general agreement with both ground-based microwave radiometer measurements of liquid water path and a method that uses combined shortwave and microwave measurements to retrieve re, τ and N. Compared to other retrieval methods, advantages of this technique include its ability to characterise thin clouds year round, that water vapour is not a primary source of retrieval error, and that the retrievals of microphysical properties are only weakly sensitive to retrieved cloud phase. The primary limitation is the inapplicability to thicker clouds that radiate as blackbodies and that it relies on a fairly comprehensive suite of ground based measurements.


Summary Needle tract seeding is a potential, albeit rare, complication following transcutaneous biopsies, leading to the seeding of tumor cells along the path of the needle. Biopsies of adrenal masses are not routinely recommended and are only indicated, after exclusion of pheochromocytoma, when an adrenal metastasis of a primary extra-adrenal cancer is suspected or when pathological confirmation of inoperable adrenocortical cancer (ACC) may impact treatment. Despite guideline recommendations to avoid primary adrenal biopsy, very few needle tract seeding cases have been reported and none were in the context of an ACC. We report the occurrence of needle tract seeding in a patient following adrenal transcutaneous biopsy leading to ACC abdominal wall recurrence. Learning points Needle tract seeding is a rare complication of transcutaneous biopsy. It may increase morbidity and impact overall survival. It has yet to be documented in adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC). Adrenal masses can be accurately evaluated for malignancy using a combination of conventional and metabolic imaging, such as CT and fluorodeoxyglucose-PET, obviating the need for biopsies. Adrenal mass biopsy is not indicated in ACC unless advanced ACC is diagnosed, and a pathological confirmation would impact management.


It was studied fortuitous cardiorespiratory and bispectral index changes in dogs anesthetized with isoflurane associated or not to tramadol. Sixteen dogswere distributed in two groups named CG (control group) and TG (tramadol group). General anesthesia was induced in all animals with isoflurane via mask. After 10 minutes, the animals of CG received 0.05ml/kg of saline solution at 0.9%, and TG received 2mg/kg of tramadol, both via intramuscular. It was evaluated heart rate, systolic, diastolic and mean arterial pressures; electrocardiography; respiratory rate; oxihemoglobin saturation; end tidal carbon dioxide; bispectral index and recovery of anesthesia. The administration of tramadol in dogs anesthetized with isoflurane did not produce changes in cardiorespiratory variables, bispectral index and anesthetic recovery time. In addition, this association promoted good quality of anesthetic recovery.


Research shows that project-level Environmental Assessment (EA) in Ontario is failing to achieve the goals that it was designed to meet, including protection and management of the environment. The practice of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is emerging internationally and an increasing number of countries and organizations are carrying out SEA either formally or informally. Although there is a considerable amount of debate in terms of standardized SEA methodology, SEA is seen as a proactive tool for incorporating sustainability objectives within Policies, Plans and Programmes (PPPs) and addressing cumulative and long-term effects of of multiple projects and policy decisions.

The energy sector is globally a large impact generator in terms of resource exploration, production, consumption and waste disposal. Energy development and policy in Ontario have great implications for sustainable development. Project-level EA is the process followed for developing energy infrastructure. However, decisions regarding energy supply are strategic in nature and cannot be adequately addressed through project-level EA. Therefore, SEA is an important tool used to deal with such decisions in the early stages of the assessment process and can help decision makers make informed choices regarding the long-term sustainability of strategic energy initiatives. This study focuses on identifying best practices criteria for carrying out SEA and investigating the extent to which the Ontario Long-Term Energy Plan conforms to SEA best practices.


Abstract: The ethnic and gender make-up of corporate boards has been the subject of intense public and regulatory focus in many countries, including the United States, in recent years. Of particular interest has been quantitative research on the impact, if any, of board diversity on corporate performance. This body of work leaves substantial gaps in our understanding of the precise mechanisms by which board diversity may alter the corporate environment, if indeed it does. In this Symposium, we discuss some preliminary findings from our first thirty-five of a series of confidential, semi-structured interviews of 45 to 90 minutes in length with corporate directors and other interested parties. Due to multiple board service, these interviews represent ninety-six public company board experiences at eighty-five different public companies. We limit our discussion in this Symposium to an analysis of the rationale for board diversity that figured most prominently in interviews with our initial sample of respondents: signaling theory. Although signaling is frequently mentioned by our respondents and other researchers as a rationale supporting board diversity, we conclude that the distribution of costs and benefits of board diversity in "good" firms versus "bad" firms is unknown. We thus are unable to conclude that "bad" firms are not mimicking the signal, undermining the stability of board diversity as a meaningful signal. We, therefore, approach blanket assertions of the signaling benefits of board diversity with caution. We conclude that the signaling rationale for board diversity is at its strongest under particular conditions that may not exist in all corporations at all times.


The use of therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) when prescribing antipsychotics is not yet considered
a routine care procedure, despite evidence and opinion regarding its benefit. Amongst the
arguments against the inclusion of TDM, are the many logistical deficiencies that prevent the TDM
service from being as optimal as warranted. It has been identified that improvements within the
service being offered for TDM may result in improvements with the overall TDM practice; which may
result in an increase usage. It was recognised that altering the analysis technique to a faster, more
versatile process, may be impacting on the overall service that could be offered and thus improve
the holistic practice of TDM of antipsychotics. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) was chosen for
consideration as an alternate analysis technique, primarily due to the known ability of this technique
to achieve fast separations of structurally similar compounds and its ability to be readily
implemented in small potentially portable lab-on-a-chip devices. It was therefore the aim of this
thesis to develop and consider CE methods for the analysis of antipsychotics for the intended
application of TDM.
The development of CE methods was performed in a step-wise manner, through an understanding
of the applications use. The first method developed was aimed at a secondary application of TDM
of compliance monitoring and achieved through an extensive examination of a multivariate
optimisation of separation parameters using the modelling software known as Peakmaster. Through
this work a set of parameters was identified that allowed for the separation of 17 antipsychotics
within 5 minutes. The optimal method was subsequently validated for evaluation and found to be
analytical suitable for consideration within a compliance monitoring setting. In addition, the
developed separation was successfully adapted for compatibility with a mass spectrometer detector
(CE-MS), however this was not considered appropriate for clinical application at this stage due to
instrumental weakness observed during this work.
The second stage of focus was to progress the method development specifically towards TOM
appropriate applications. This was achieved by developing the first separation for aripiprazole and
both main metabolites. Here a separation was achieved for three structurally similar compounds
within nine minutes and found to be ideal for the intended application of TOM. Having successfully
developed aCE method suitable for TOM, the final method was developed with the aim of
incorporating the two positive elements of the prior two methods: many compounds within one
method and achieve separation of structurally similar compounds. Consequently a method was
developed incorporating five popularly prescribed antipsychotics and metabolites, resulting in a
separation of 13 compounds within eight minutes.
The methods developed and presented within this thesis were considered suitable for the intended
application of TOM. Due to the speed and resolution achieved within the separations, it was
foreseeable that the implementation of these methods would have the potential of improving the
versatility of the TOM service and therefore potentially improve the usage of TOM for antipsychotics.
It was clearly acknowledged that further assessment would be necessary (such as tandem testing)
before suggesting these methods be implemented. However the work here supports the idea of
changing the analytical technique employed for the process of TOM of antipsychotics to CE, as a
modification that would allow for improvements to the overall service delivered.


In recent years, multiple drug regimens are available for the safe and efficient treatment of Hepatitis C in a short period. There are case reports of drug reactions in patients treated with interferon Alfa-2b and ribavirin combination. However, there are no reports of hypersensitivity reactions to previously tolerated medication after eradication of HCV with the new regimen. Here we report a patient presenting with hypersensitivity reactions to multiple drugs, which were previously well tolerated, after the successful eradication of chronic Hepatitis C with the ledipasvir-sofosbuvir combination. The patient may have had an underlying hypersensitivity reaction to medications before his infection with Hepatitis C. Chronic Hepatitis C infection appears to exert an immunosuppressive effect which masks the hypersensitivity reaction. Complete eradication of viral load by the newly available drugs ledipasvir-sofosbuvir unmasked the immunosuppression. However, the immunomodulatory effect of the new drug cannot be excluded as a possible etiology. It is important to know that these hypersensitivity reactions can occur after the successful treatment of Hepatitis C and may cause lifethreatening reactions in patients.


Planaria are considered the most primitive form of cephalized animal with similarity to vertebrate nervous systems. They possess nearly every neurotransmitter present in most mammals, including dopamine. Planaria are known for their extraordinary ability to regenerate from a small tissue fragment, making planaria an ideal model to study the nervous system. Planaria have pluripotent somatic stem cells known as neoblasts. Following amputation, neoblasts increase their rate of return and migrate to the wound site. They then give rise to a mass of new tissue called the blastemal. Cells in the blastemal differentiate over a period of several days to replace missing body structures. Previous research compared scoring methods of neurotoxicity on the neurological, locomotive, and morphological functions of planarian. High levels of dopamine have been found in regenerating planaria, indicating that dopamine may have a role in regeneration. Caffeine enhances dopamine signaling in the brain. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the effect of caffeine on the regeneration rate of planaria. In this study, twenty one planaria were exposed to two concentrations of caffeine. The heads were amputated, and regeneration was recorded by digital photography. The study showed that the highest dosage of caffeine accelerated the regeneration rate of the planaria in comparison to the lower dosage and control. The planaria treated with the lower caffeine dosage also regenerated in less time than the control specimen. This study is evidence that a high dose of caffeine accelerates planaria regeneration and implicates caffeine as a possible treatment to stimulate the regeneration process.


This thesis presents a control scheme for a single-stage three-phase Photovoltaic (PV) converter with negative sequence load current compensation. In this thesis a dual virtual impedance active damping technique for an LCL filter is proposed to address the issue of LCL filter resonance. Both inverter-side current and the capacitor current are used in the feedback loop. Using both signals provides higher DC rejection than using capacitor current alone. The proposed active damping scheme results in a faster transient response and higher damping ratio than can be obtained using inverter-side current alone. The feedback gains can be calculated to achieve a specified damping level. A method of determining the gains of the Proportional and Resonant current controller based on frequency response characteristics is presented. For a specified set of gain and phase margins, the controller gains can be calculated explicitly. Furthermore, a modification is proposed to prevent windup in the resonator. A numerically compensated Half-Cycle Discrete Fourier Transform (HCDFT) method is developed to calculate the negative sequence component of the load current. The numerical compensation allows the HCDFT to accurately estimate the fundamental component of the load current under off-nominal frequency conditions. The proposed HCDFT method is shown to have a quick settling time that is comparable to that obtained with conventional sequence compensation techniques as well as immunity to harmonics in the input signal. The effect of unbalance compensation on the PV power output depending on the irradiance and the operational region on the power-voltage curve is examined. Analysis of the DC link voltage ripple shows the region of operation on the P-V curve affects the amplitude of the DC link voltage ripple during negative sequence compensation. The proposed control scheme is validated by simulation in the Matlab/Simulink® environment. The proposed control scheme is tested in the presence of excessive current imbalance, unbalanced feeder impedances, and non-linear loads. The results have shown that the proposed control scheme can improve power quality in a hybrid PV-diesel microgrid by reducing both voltage and current imbalance while simultaneously converting real power from a PV array.


We investigate the problem of learning document classifiers in a multilingual setting, from collections where labels are only partially available. We address this problem in the framework of multiview learning, where different languages correspond to different views of the same document, combined with semi-supervised learning in order to benefit from unlabeled documents. We rely on two techniques, coregularization and consensus-based self-training, that combine multiview and semi-supervised learning in different ways. Our approach trains different monolingual classifiers on each of the views, such that the classifiers' decisions over a set of unlabeled examples are in agreement as much as possible, and iteratively labels new examples from another unlabeled training set based on a consensus across language-specific classifiers. We derive a boosting-based training algorithm for this task, and analyze the impact of the number of views on the semi-supervised learning results on a multilingual extension of the Reuters RCV1/RCV2 corpus using five different languages. Our experiments show that coregularization and consensus-based self-training are complementary and that their combination is especially effective in the interesting and very common situation where there are few views (languages) and few labeled documents available.


Normal binaural hearing allows the auditory system to determine the direction and distance of sound sources and to detect certain sounds at much lower intensity levels. Different stimuli may have different impact on binaural processing and may generate different brain responses. The mechanism by which this occurs is poorly understood. Time averaged EEG responses of normal hearing subjects to repeated stimuli were analyzed. The stimuli, 500 Hz Blackman windowed pure tones, were presented as homophasic or anti-phasic and were also mixed with various noise conditions. Auditory evoked potentials (AEP) were obtained by averaging 500 trials of in-phase and 500 trials of outphase of each EEG epoch. The results show that the amplitude of the dominant frequency component in the 20 50 Hz range of the middle latency response of the AEP was larger for the anti-phasic condition than for the homo-phasic condition. The normalised amplitude differences were larger when the stimuli were embedded in noise resulting in a higher mean value of the normalized amplitude difference than for noise free stimuli. These results are likely to relate to binaural masking level difference which finds that the detection of a signal in a background noise is easier when the signal has a different inter-aural phase difference than the noise.


Aggressive driving has been associated with engagement in other risky driving behaviours, such as speeding; while drivers using their mobile phones have an increased crash risk, despite the tendency to reduce their speed. Research has amassed separately for mobile phone use and aggressive driving among younger drivers, however little is known about the extent to which these behaviours may function independently and in combination to influence speed selection behaviour. The main aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of driver aggression (measured by the Driving Anger Expression Inventory) and mobile phone use on speed selection by young drivers. The CARRS-Q advanced driving simulator was used to test the speed selection of drivers aged 18 to 26 years (N = 32) in a suburban (60kph zone) driving context. A 2 (level of driving anger expression: low, high) X 3 (mobile phone use condition: baseline, hands-free, hand-held) mixed factorial ANOVA was conducted with speed selection as the dependent variable. Results revealed a significant main effect for mobile phone use condition such that speed selection was lowest for the hand-held condition and highest for the baseline condition. Speed selection, however, was not significantly different across the levels of driving anger expression; nor was there a significant interaction effect between the mobile phone use and driving anger expression. As young drivers are over-represented in road crash statistics, future research should further investigate the combined impact of driver aggression and mobile phone use on speed selection.


The attempt to elucidate biological pathways and classify genes has led to the development of numerous clustering approaches to gene expression. All these approaches use a single metric to identify genes with similar expression levels. Until now, the correlation between the expression levels of such genes has been based on phenomenological and heuristic correlation functions, rather than on biological models. In this paper, we derive six distinct correlation functions based on explicit thermodynamic modeling of gene regulatory networks. We then combine these correlation functions with novel biclustering algorithms to identify functionally enriched groups. The statistical significance of the identified groups is demonstrated by precision-recall curves and calculated p-values. Furthermore, comparison with chromatin immunoprecipitation data indicates that the performance of the derived correlation functions depends on the specific regulatory mechanisms. Finally, we introduce the idea of multi-class biclustering and with the help of support vector machines we demonstrate its improved classification performance in a microarray dataset.


The globalization of supply chain networks and the advances in the Information and Communication Technologies have significantly changed logistics practices over the last several decades. Modern logistics operations that prioritize the cycle time reduction require larger logistics facilities than ever before. These changes in the logistics sector, when combined with the growth and further densification of cities, have led to the spatial restructuring of logistics-related land use that often entails the outward migration of logistics facilities. While researchers and practitioners have voiced concerns over the potential increase in negative externalities associated such restructuring, such as congestions, emissions, noises, vibrations and traffic accidents, the actual levels of impacts and the policies that can alleviate them have not been sufficiently studied in the past.
To address this gap, this research carries out four broad tasks: (1) the empirical analysis of the spatial reorganization of the urban systems and its impacts, (2) the development of a simulation model for analyzing logistics facility distribution and associated urban freight traffic, (3) the evaluation of various scenarios of logistics facility distribution and, (4) the analysis of different policy options and the evaluation of the impacts. The data from the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, the largest metropolitan area in the world, are used for all the tasks. The results of the analyses shed the light on the relationships among policies, the spatial distribution of logistics facilities, urban logistics chains, and the externalities. The policy insights for reducing the externalities associated with urban freight are also obtained.


Over the last decade, the European Commission has launched several procedures concerning the compatibility of hydropower right granting with European laws and regulations in several countries (e.g. France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, etc.). Meanwhile, other hydropower regimes (e.g. in Austria or Sweden) are not subject of such investigations despite not being grounded on competitive process. This difference of treatment raises questions about the drivers of the European Commission actions. Understanding and grabbing the main differences between the national hydropower regimes is then of particular interest. This report aims at providing a benchmarking of hydropower concession regimes in Europe, describing hydropower regimes in 14 European countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Greece, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland) and regions when appropriate (e.g. cantons in Switzerland or Lands/States in Germany). This report describes and scrutinizes hydropower regimes through a unified analysis framework to ensure their comparison on an equal basis. This framework is structured around 4 blocks: 1. The institutional framework of hydropower regimes (e.g. type of rights to use hydropower, authorities granting rights to use hydropower, etc.) 2. The framework for granting right to use hydropower (duration of rights and procedure, competitive process and existence of a possible EC infringement procedure). 3. The obligations of the hydropower operator (environmental and investment obligations and royalties). 4. Small hydro characterisation and support schemes. ISBN:978-92-9084-353-5 doi:10.2870/121640 © European University Institute, 2015 Content © Authors, 2015


History Matters Fishery-induced mortality is not the sole driver of fish population dynamics, and shifts in population abundance are also subject to ecological impacts. In a meta-analysis, Neubauer et al. (p. 347) showed how some fish-stock recoveries have been slower than theoretically predicted. They discovered that a species' exploitation history is also an important predictor of recovery. The data indicate that even extreme limitations in harvest pressure may not allow for the timely recovery of collapsed stocks. Current fish harvests and low fish levels make fishery recovery improbable for most of the world's depleted stocks. Recovery of overexploited marine populations has been slow, and most remain below target biomass levels. A key question is whether this is due to insufficient reductions in harvest rates or the erosion of population resilience. Using a global meta-analysis of overfished stocks, we find that resilience of those stocks subjected to moderate levels of overfishing is enhanced, not compromised, offering the possibility of swift recovery. However, prolonged intense overexploitation, especially for collapsed stocks, not only delays rebuilding but also substantially increases the uncertainty in recovery times, despite predictable influences of fishing and life history. Timely and decisive reductions in harvest rates could mitigate this uncertainty. Instead, current harvest and low biomass levels render recovery improbable for the majority of the world's depleted stocks.


Background Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a rheumatic disease characterized by diffuse body pain and decreased muscle function. The aim of the present study was to compare the biological rhythms of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome with the biological rhythms of healthy controls. Material/Methods This was a cross-sectional, single blind, and single center case-control study. The patients with fibromyalgia were evaluated using a Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), Biological Rhythms Interview of Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (BRIAN) Scale, Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Results The study included 77 female patients with FMS, and 32 healthy female individuals as the control group. We found that the patients in the FMS group achieved higher scores in VAS, BDI, PSQI, and the BRIAN scale than the patients in the control group (P<0.001). An evaluation of the relationship between FMS evaluation parameters and biological rhythm scores in patients with FMS revealed a significant positive correlation between total BRAIN and VAS, FIQ, BDI, and PSQI scores. When the relationship between FMS evaluation parameters and biological rhythm scores was evaluated in patients with FMS, a significant positive correlation was found between total BRAIN and VAS, FIQ, BDI, and PSQI scores (r=0.555, P<0.001; r=0.461, P<0.001; r=0.630, P<0.001; and r=0.551, P<0.001 respectively). Conclusions We consider that an evaluation of the biological rhythm of female patients with FMS, and appropriate treatment when required, would contribute significantly to the treatment and follow-up process of the patients.


The soybean aphid (Aphis glycines Matsumura), a new pest of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.], rapidly spread throughout North America after its arrival in 2000 and caused millions of dollars in economic losses. At present, the application of insecticides is the only means to control the soybean aphid. However, genetic resistance to the aphid was recently discovered in soybean germplasm and the soybean cultivar Dowling was identified as having strong antibiosis-type aphid resistance. The objective of this study was to determine the inheritance of resistance to the soybean aphid in Dowling. Resistance in F1 ,F 2, and F2–derived F3 (F2:3) families from crosses between Dowling and the two susceptible soybean cultivars Loda and Williams 82 was analyzed. All F1 plants were resistant to the aphid. Heterogeneity of segregation of F2 plants in 14 Dowling 3 Loda F2 families was nonsignificant (P 5 0.16), and pooled F2 data, with 132 resistant to 45 susceptible plants, fit a 3:1 ratio (P 5 0.90). F2 plants from Dowling 3 Williams 82 segregated 135 resistant to 44 susceptible, also fitting a 3:1 ratio (P 5 0.89). Segregation among the F2:3 families fit a 1:2:1 monogenic inheritance pattern. These results indicated that a single dominant gene named Rag1 controlled resistance in Dowling. The monogenic dominant nature of resistance will enable breeders to rapidly convert existing susceptible cultivars to resistant cultivars using backcrossing procedures.


In what has universally been recognized as a classic of institutional economics, John R. Commons combined the skills of a professional economist, the sensibilities of an American historian, and the passion of an active participant in the conflicts of individuals, self-interest of groups, and function of voluntary associations. The aim of this volume is to work out an evolutionary and behavioral theory of value. In order to do so thoroughly, Commons examines the decisions of the courts. Doing so compelled an examination of what the courts mean by reasonable value. Commons found that the answer was tied up with a notion of reasonable conduct. It was Commons who carried the study of the habits and customs of social life to the next stage: the decisions of the courts that are based on custom and that profoundly impact the nature and function of the economic system as such. Reviewing Legal Foundations of Capitalism, Wesley Mitchell declared that Commons carried this "analysis further along his chosen line than any of his predecessors. Into our knowledge of capitalism he has incorporated a great body of new materials which no one else has used adequately." And writing in the same American Economic Review twenty-one years later, Selig Perlman noted that "To Commons the workingmen were not abstract building blocks out of which a favored deity called History was to shape the architecture of the new society, but concrete beings with legitimate ambitions for a higher standard of living and for more dignity in their lives." This edition is graced with a special introduction that places Commons in proper academic as well as intellectual context.


The declaration of eleven languages as the official languages of South Africa brought about an increased need for translation and language planning in South Africa. However, many students of translation experience difficulty to produce quality translations, even after completing a course in translation. The purpose of this article is to report the findings of the original research on an investigation of the possible cause of this problem, as well as to find a possible solution to the problem. The results of the study show that the reason for this problem might be the training of translation students by using foreign textbooks and the lack of a South African textbook of translation. The findings further suggest that a translation textbook true to the South African context might be the solution to this problem. This study focuses on developing guidelines for the compilation of such a textbook.


Health is unevenly distributed across different social groups and the burden of chronic diseases falls disproportionately on people with lower socioeconomic status. Evidence-based health care services can mitigate the negative impact of chronic diseases at societal and individual level. However, the quality of care received by chronically-ill patients is also shaped by their socio-economic status with people from lower socio-economic groups receiving less preventive and curative care than their better-off counterparts. Several authors have argued that the social gradient in health is partly the result of a deficit in the quality of care. The Chronic Care Model (CCM) is an evidence-based policy response devoted to improving the quality of chronic care at the level of primary care. It has been implemented in several Western societies to decrease the morbidity and mortality associated with chronic diseases. The initial evaluations have shown that it is efficient and can also mitigate the social gradient in health. However, the pathways through which it acts on the social determinants of health have not been analysed in detail. In this paper we outline the materialist-structuralist and social capital pathways, described in the literature, through which social determinants shape the social gradient in health. We show that the CCM could mitigate the social inequalities in health by increasing the level of social capital at the level of health care systems. However, it does not act on the materialist and structural causes of the health inequalities and this may raise a significant concern that in the absence of other social policies it may actually increase the social inequalities in health.


Over 2 billion searches are conducted daily on Web search engines. Some Web searches are re-finding what was seen before, but many searches are query reformulation or refinements as attempts to retrieve better results. Previous studies have examined query formulation and reformulation from the mid-seventies to today, including online intermediary and end-user searching, CD-ROM and OPAC environments, and Web search studies. Query research is important theoretically and practically for the Web industry. This panel presents three recent query formulation and reformulation studies in diverse environments and user groups, including Web search logs and Web searching by 4–5 year olds. The short panel presentations will highlight the theoretical and practical implications of the results and allow sufficient time to engage the audience in discussion.


The United States has attempted for years to create a more efficient enforcement regime for foreign-country judgments, both by treaty and statute. Long negotiations succeeded in July 2019, when the Hague Conference on Private International Law (with U.S. participants, including the Uniform Law Commission) promulgated the new Hague Judgments Convention which harmonizes judgment recognition standards but leaves the domestication process to the enforcing jurisdiction. In August 2019, the Uniform Law Commission took a significant step to fill that gap, though limited to Canadian judgments. The Uniform Registration of Canadian Money Judgments Act provides a registration process similar to that for sister-state judgments in the United States. The new Act aligns with Canada's Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, retaining due process safeguards while facilitating acceptance of appropriate judgments. In most cases, this will avoid the need for further litigation and lead to more efficient enforcement in adopting jurisdictions. This Article outlines the new Act and then tackles difficult questions that remain subject to local law.


Devils Lake is located in one of the largest closed basins in the northern prairies. Water and sediment samples were collected to characterize present and past hydrologic and climatic conditions in the basin. Precipitation in North Dakota exhibits a wide range of stable isotopic compositions. Precipitation samples clustered along two segments of the meteoric water line, illustrating the strong seasonal component of precipitation. Low deuterium excess in summer precipitation was indicative of higher relative humidity of the air masses originating over the Gulf of Mexico. High deuterium excess in winter precipitation is similar to the values found at Canadian stations located on the northern prairies, indicating that the origin of winter precipitation is Arctic air masses. The isotopic composition of ground-water in the Spiritwood aquifer is lighter modern precipitation, indicating that the water was recharged during colder, wetter periods. Surface water has experienced significant isotopic fractionation as a result of evaporation. Precipitation and runoff are not the only sources of recharge to Devils Lake. The intercept of the evaporation line for Devils Lake surface water and the precipitation, is more negative than precipitation and runoff. Pore water in Devils Lake is enriched in major ions and nutrients. Two geochemical processes are primarily responsible for the large dissolved-solids and nutrient concentrations in the pore water: burial of saline sediments and pore water, and microbially-mediated sulfate reduction. Bottom sediment fluxes are the dominant source of major ions and nutrients to Devils Lake. Based on, biogenic silica and the composition of organic matter (TOC, C:N, del C-13, and del N-15) in sediment cores, the paleobiologic conditions of Devils Lake can be described. High lake level stands are characterized by; increased primary productivity, increased input of detrital organic matter, and nitrogen unlimiting conditions, and low lake level stands by; decreased primary productivity, decreased input of detrital organic matter, where algal matter dominants the sedimentary organic matter.


Summary Th e infl uence of the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus, Glomus mosseae, on characteristics of growth, membrane lipid peroxidation and soluble sugar content in the shoots and roots of soybean (Glycine max) plants was studied in pot culture under salt stress. Th e experiment was arranged as a factorial in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four replications in greenhouse of College of Agriculture, Tehran University, Iran. Th e plants inoculated with mycorrhiza had significantly greater shoot and root biomass than the nonmycorrhizal plants at all salinity levels. AM symbiosis decreased membrane relative permeability and malondialdehyde content in shoots and roots. Th e soluble sugar content in roots was higher in mycorrhizal than nonmycorrhizal plants, but there was no signifi cant diff erence in soluble sugar content in shoots between mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal plants. Th e results indicate that the AM fungus is capable of alleviating the damage caused by salt stress on soybean plants by reducing membrane lipid peroxidation and increasing the accumulation of soluble sugar content. Consequently, arbuscular mycorrhiza formation highly enhanced the salinity tolerance of soybean plant, which increased host biomass and promoted plant growth.


In recent years, novel high-performance nanophotonic devices have been realized by applying ultrathin two-dimensional nanolayer materials to nanophotonics. In this paper, we propose nanolayer-embedded compact pseudo-photonic crystals (PPCs) that enable strong interaction between ultrathin nanolayers and photonic crystal modes. In typical two-dimensional slab photonic crystals, the transverse-magnetic (TM) photonic crystal bandgap is not well formed, making it difficult to operate the TM photonic crystal waveguide modes. However, by utilizing the low-frequency TM PPC bands, a long propagation TM waveguide mode, a slow TM waveguide mode, and a TM photonic bandgap are all readily available. In particular, the insertion of a nanometer-thick low-refractive-index layer in the vertical center of TM PPC waveguide can localize the electric fields tightly in nanometer space, causing strong field interaction with the inserted nanolayer material. Using the TM slow light near PPC band edges, field interaction with the nanolayer is significantly enhanced. We can also realize nanolayer-embedded high-quality-factor (Q-factor > 104) PPC cavities using the TM PPC bandgap. We believe that the proposed TM PPCs will play an important role in the strong interaction of ultrathin nanolayer materials with photonic crystal modes.


Butler (2009a, b) argues that an adequate model of the language system shouldaccommodate cognitive, sociocultural, discoursal, acquisitional, typologicaland diachronic dimensions, and observational evidence from corpora, experimentsand intuition. This paper asks if such reconciliation is possible. It arguesthat language is composed of accreted subsystems that render the linguisticsystem inherently complex in each dimension. This hybridity explains the difficultyin constructing Butler's macro-model, but also indicates how it mightbe done. Subsystems that add complexity in one dimension are often explainedby another, e.g. sub-patterns for English plural formation arose for socioculturalreasons (Classical borrowing); typological exception groups (e.g. DirectorGeneral) have a diachronic explanation. Thus, future modelling will benefitfrom the flexibility to cross-refer between dimensions.


Photocathodes based on cuprous oxide (Cu2O) are promising materials for large scale and widespread solar fuel generation due to the abundance of copper, suitable bandgap, and favorable band alignments for reducing water and carbon dioxide. A protective overlayer is required to stabilize the Cu2O in aqueous media under illumination, and the interface between this overlayer and the catalyst nanoparticles was previously identified as a key source of instability. Here, the properties of the protective titanium dioxide overlayer of composite cuprous oxide photocathodes are further investigated, as well as an oxide‐based hydrogen evolution catalyst, ruthenium oxide (RuO2). The RuO2‐catalyzed photoelectrodes exhibit much improved stability versus platinum nanoparticles, with 94% stability after 8 h of light‐chopping chronoamperometry. Faradaic efficiencies of ∼100% are obtained as determined by measurement of the evolved hydrogen gas. The sustained photocurrents of close to 5 mA cm−2 obtained with this electrode during the chronoamperometry measurement (at 0 V vs. the reversible hydrogen electrode, pH 5, and simulated 1 sun illumination) would correspond to greater than 6% solar‐to‐hydrogen conversion efficiency in a tandem photoelectrochemical cell, where the bias is provided by a photovoltaic device such as a dye‐sensitized solar cell.


Attracting pollinators and achieving successful reproduction is essential to flowering plant species, which evolved different strategies to cope with unpredictable pollination service. The ability of selfing is most widespread and represents a reproductive insurance under varying conditions. In this study, we investigated reproductive success in Centaurea cyanus , a self-incompatible declining Asteraceae species. We measured seed set under outcrossing and autonomous selfing and assessed the impact of capitulum structure (i.e., the number of disc florets) on reproductive success. We report that the incompatibility system is either flexible or evolving a breakdown in this species, since autonomous selfing often resulted in production of few seeds. We also show that capitulum structure has a strong impact on reproduction, with smaller inflorescences presenting a better ability to self than larger ones, while larger inflorescences performed better than smaller ones when cross-pollinated. Variable capitulum structure in this Asteraceae species may therefore represent a reproductive strategy to achieve efficient reproduction under diverse pollination environments. Our results also suggest that this declining species might be disrupting its auto-incompatibility system in response to reduced habitats and declining population sizes.


Psychosocial assistance in emergencies plays an important role in alleviating suffering and promoting well-being, but it is often a source of unintended harm. A prerequisite for ethically appropriate support is awareness of how psychosocial programs may cause harm. This paper underscores the importance of attending to issues of coordination, dependency, politicization of aid, assessment, short-term assistance, imposition of outsider approaches, protection, and impact evaluation. With regard to each of these issues, it suggests practical steps that may be taken to reduce harm and maximize the humanitarian value of psychosocial assistance.


In contemporary music and arts practices the previously distinct roles of author, composer and performer have become increasingly conflated, catalysed by the use of computer technology. Newly combined roles of composer and performer that are assumed by one or more people or computer systems are identified and described, as well as actions including preparation, organisation and presentation. In this paper the interface is described as an 'interactivated space' to encompass both the intimate scale of a performer manipulating the materials through an on-body interface, and the larger in-space interface where the work is shared with the performers and audience. Two examples of projects the authors are involved in are described, which form the basis for further discussion. The two interfaces that manifest themselves in the processes, the instrument and the score are discussed in more detail with a focus on their changed appearance and role.


Following the development of decentralized generation and smart appliances, energy communities have become a phenomenon of increased interest. While the benefits of such communities have been discussed, there is increasing concern that inadequate grid tariffs may lead to excess adoption of such business models. Furthermore, snowball effects may be observed following the effects these communities have on grid tariffs. We show that restraining the study to a simple cost-benefit analysis is far from satisfactory. Therefore, we use the framework of cooperative game theory to take account of the ability of communities to share gains between members. The interaction between energy communities and the DSO then results in a non-cooperative equilibrium. We provide mathematical formulations and intuitions of such effects, and carry out realistic numerical applications where communities can invest jointly in solar panels and batteries. We show that such a snowball effect may be observed, but its magnitude and its welfare effects will depend on the grid tariff structure that is implemented, leading to possible PV over-investments.


Abstract. The Optical Spectrograph and InfraRed Imaging System (OSIRIS) onboard the Odin satellite has now taken over a decade of limb scatter measurements that have been used to retrieve the version 5 stratospheric aerosol extinction product. This product is retrieved using a representative particle size distribution to calculate scattering cross sections and scattering phase functions for the forward model calculations. In this work the information content of OSIRIS measurements with respect to stratospheric aerosol is systematically examined for the purpose of retrieving particle size information along with the extinction coefficient. The benefit of using measurements at different wavelengths and scattering angles in the retrieval is studied, and it is found that incorporation of the 1530 nm radiance measurement is key for a robust retrieval of particle size information. It is also found that using OSIRIS measurements at the different solar geometries available on the Odin orbit simultaneously provides little additional benefit. Based on these results, an improved aerosol retrieval algorithm is developed that couples the retrieval of aerosol extinction and mode radius of a log-normal particle size distribution. Comparison of these results with coincident measurements from SAGE III shows agreement in retrieved extinction to within approximately 10% over the bulk of the aerosol layer, which is comparable to version 5. The retrieved particle size, when converted to Angstrom coefficient, shows good qualitative agreement with SAGE II measurements made at somewhat shorter wavelengths.


Translation apps and devices are often presented in the context of providing assistance while traveling abroad. However, the spectrum of needs for cross-language communication is much wider. To investigate these needs, we conducted three studies with populations spanning socioeconomic status and geographic regions: (1) United States-based travelers, (2) migrant workers in India, and (3) immigrant populations in the United States. We compare frequent travelers' perception and actual translation needs with those of the two migrant communities. The latter two, with low language proficiency, have the greatest translation needs to navigate their daily lives. However, current mobile translation apps do not meet these needs. Our findings provide new insights on the usage practices and limitations of mobile translation tools. Finally, we propose design implications to help apps better serve these unmet needs.


"The Bioethism paradigm" (acronym for Biology-Ethology, ecology Humanism) fosters universal specificities relative to the complexity of Life's processing, which in form of open systems, appeared on Earth from biochemical components and survival proprieties within propitious physicochemical environmental forces (J.-J. Blanc 1996). For reference, the author's past proceedings were developed part after part since 2004 as the structure and chapters of a "General Theory of Metadynamics Systemicity". Its building blocks are being centered on the Universe diversity of x-dynamics: petadynamics teradynamics, gigadynamics', metadynamics', dynamics', microdynamics' and nanodynamics' systemicity. The set of X-dynamics are, in physics, multipliers defined in powers of 10 to 10, proceeding in increments of three orders of magnitude (10' or 1`000), such as: peta, giga, meta, kilo, micro, nano... The publication of these works is meant to support the acquisition of a large transdisciplinary understanding of the "x-dynamics' systemicity world" that sustains the whole evolution of the Universe system's components as well as those of living entities (things, objects, individuals), while perceiving and experiencing sets of forces and fluxes. This is why the theory of Systemicity emerged from synergies as applying the principles of "The Bioethism Transdisciplinary Paradigm of Universal Systems" down to "Living systems" both having their specific temporal survival" that the author J.-J. Blanc developed since 1996. "Systemicity" is a notion that surges from interrelation, interaction, intrication...within interdependent synergies. The systemicity of atomic and molecular cycles has made and sustains both cosmic systems and Life's cycles on planet Earth along differential time periods (trillion of light-years to less than hours) and their specific retroactivity. Intrication is the quantum entanglement of a physical phenomenon that occurs when pairs or groups of particles are generated or interact in ways such that the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently — instead, a quantum state may be given for the system as a whole, in other ways its metabolism status. Measurements of physical properties such as position, momentum, spin, polarization, etc. performed on entangled particles are found to be appropriately correlated. The different parts of "X-dynamics Systemicity" are developed through a new "reading grid of natural structures and behaviors of entities, objects and things as adapting from "neighboring'" within "neighborhoods" (ecosystems) where they specifically cope with endogenous and The General Theory of Systemicity Page 2 sur 30 exogenous events and forces inducing to the retroactive temporal restructuring of their structure and behavioral aptitudes (as in part 6). Neighboring is "to associate in a neighborly way, to communicate with, to live side by side with, and to overlook and look out. Biological molecule sequences, while neighboring, are participating in the structuring and the evolution of "cosmobjects"(JJB), organism, species and entities along their reproduction abilities. It infers nature and extent of selective forces, those driving the evolving shaping of atom sets and organism genes (mutations). In other words, as in this part 7, "survival means" possess diverse perception, memory and experience tools that empower their adaptability to the permanency of all things to happen and change, i.e.: they possess means as how to "give sense to things around from the interpretation of what's they perceive. The choice of the sense given may be lethal or propitious to their surviving. In order to exist, both objects and living creatures expressions are replicating and evolve thanks to their perception and feeling survival tools within global, glocal and local areas (ecosystems) and by their natural structures and behavioral components which shape some form of sytemicity processes that sustain their survival. Resulting actions and gene mutations are permanently changing both the endogen milieu and external environmental ecosystems metabolism and components quality (e.g.: means used from vision interpreting the formation of a move or a feeling driving to its systemicity result like fear; the gravity effect of two masses as sustaining a balanced equilibrium, flying away...). Subsequently, through ecosystems' 3D multi-layers, from proto-organisms to humans, their individualities take on specific social traits and behavioral statuses that account for the diversity of species to get developed and/or to go extinct. For example, when the Earth became a "snowball" from a nearly total glaciation (-600 Mo/y), the survival of some neighboring bacteria and micro-organisms escaping the drastic extinction of most species, conversely perceiving ways of adaptation, boosted up an extraordinary explosion of marine species bearing quite new functions (545Mo/y), that then after volcanic holes progressively reheated areas of the planet and boosted some organisms population revivals from the systemicity of sets of interrelated metadynamics and their symbiotic outputs propitious with adaptation and evolution. The Universe's global environment generates x-dynamics such as cosmic petadynamics (black holes? Black energy?), teradynamics, gigadynamics and metadynamics cycles... in form of systemic forces, fluxes and moves occur within immense gas and particles neighborhoods. Interrelated, they are some of the main physicochemical cosmic, galactic, stellar, planetary and terrestrial feedback synergies from which x-dynamics systemicity retroactions emerge (i.e. rock cycles). Sets of systemicity results make atoms and molecules to participate in the structuring of matter and cosmic objects (nebulae, baby stars, stars and planets, waters and rocks), within a molecular world that originated from and after the "Big Bang" a nd the role of aggregation. Furthermore, the physicochemical neighboring conditions for planet Earth to stabilize within the "Sun's green belt" was a thermodynamics and environmental balanced state issued from the presence of the Moon's mass aggregation at the right distance so as to become propitious for Life to "hatch" (gravity and tidal forces). Such favorable position, sustaining the Earth and Life's evolution by the development of x-dynamic adaptive pathways, is in some sort of a synchronistic status with universal objects survival cycles, forces, fluxes, moves and matter that as "perceiving, giving sense and experiencing things" is highly evolving as to experiencing things" in several synergetic manners, (e.g. cosmic objects feeling, plants natural emotional 1 Interpreting: as understanding (an action, mood, or way of behaving) having a particular meaning. The General Theory of Systemicity Page 3 sur 30 intelligence. . .). Perception tools are physicochemical and organic features treating signalslike neuronsor other microtubule as protein structures and links around brain networks. Microtubules are a component of the cytoskeleton, found throughout the cytoplasm. The microtubule can dynamically switch between growing and shrinking phases in this region ("search and capture model"), a matter of neighboring milieu. Life as a whole and living entities, while neighboring around, are confronted with gravitation, electromagnetism, chemical and physical phenomena, and particularly with temperature and the "thermodynamics of entropy". Filtering their milieu symptoms and their environmental events signals, living creatures develop means of perception in ways their inner systems and organs such as the immune one, emotional brain with amygdala and reptilian area or vision with eyes are well fit drivers for supporting their survival behaviors. The neighboring areas (mille-feuille as 4D-networks) are diverse but concomitant producing forces and fluxes that are dynamical drivers within the diverse ecosystems. Their systemicity results from actions of coalescence, conjunction, co-evolution, convergence, symbiosis, percolation, phase transition or threshold output, neighborhood adaptation, etc. Universally, these actions and mechanisms concern atomic, molecular and physicochemical world's permanently provoking feedback that drives the evolution of systemicity cycles and perception means. Because of the development of similarities in unrelated matters or organisms present in similar environments, a balanced equilibrium is necessary to sustain the whole of things to survive temporally. The disappearance of a link along a food chain completely disorganizes the ecosystem's metabolism endangering its sustainability. Specific bonds and traits of structures and behaviors, as well as evolution trends for "surviving objects and living creatures" require a certain knowledge and a memory about actions-reactions (drivers) from ago-antagonistic signals and stimuli in order to give the propitious answer to an adaptation, then evolution of things. Issued from ecosystemic and socio-systemic metabolism and environmental statuses (geophysics, climate, predator preys networks of food chains...), these signals sustain things thanks to the x-dynamics systemic retroactivity results reigning about from the convergence of multi-symbiosis. A Closer Look at Instincts In animals, instinct has the inherent tendency to engage spontaneously into particular pattern of behaviors. Examples of this include a dog shaking after it gets wet, a sea turtle seeking out the ocean after hatching, or a bird migrating before the winter season. This part of the theory, the 7 one, describes the major dynamics that symbiotically pilot "key drivers" that represent the general act of "symbiotic perception". This act, occurring at the cosmos and biological objects levels, is inducing to different physicochemical interactions and laws (gravity...), prolonged down to the Earth major dynamic drivers that induce to its survival as well as survival specifications, adaptations and


Advances in optical technology and computing power are bringing life-like 3DTV closer, with potential applications not only in entertainment, but also in education, scientific research, industry, medicine, and many other areas. 3DTV will require the integration of a diversity of key technologies from computing to graphics, imaging to display, and signal processing to communications. The scope of this book reflects this diversity: different chapters deal with different stages of an end-to-end 3DTV system such as capture, representation, coding, transmission, and display. Both autostereoscopic techniques which eliminate the need for special glasses and allow viewer movement, and holographic approaches which have the potential to provide the truest three-dimensional images, are covered. Some chapters discuss current research trends in 3DTV technology, while others address underlying topics. This book, the condensed result of an extensive European project developing the future of 3D-Television, is essential to those with an interest in 3DTV-related research or applications, and also of interest to those who, while not directly working on 3DTV, work in areas which developments in 3DTV may touch, such as multimedia, computer games, virtual reality, medical imaging, and scientific simulation.


Pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) is rare. Chemotherapy for metastatic LCNEC ranges from small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) regimens to nonsmall cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) chemotherapy regimens. We analysed outcomes of chemotherapy treatments for LCNEC. The Netherlands Cancer Registry and Netherlands Pathology Registry (PALGA) were searched for patients with stage IV chemotherapy-treated LCNEC (2003–2012). For 207 patients, histology slides were available for pathology panel review. First-line platinum-based combined chemotherapy was clustered as "NSCLC-t", comprising gemcitabine, docetaxel, paclitaxel or vinorelbine; "NSCLC-pt", with pemetrexed treatment only; and "SCLC-t", consisting of etoposide chemotherapy. A panel review diagnosis of LCNEC was established in 128 out of 207 patients. NSCLC-t chemotherapy was administered in 46% (n=60), NSCLC-pt in 16% (n=20) and SCLC-t in 38% (n=48) of the patients. The median (95% CI) overall survival for NSCLC-t chemotherapy was 8.5 (7.0–9.9) months, significantly longer than patients treated with NSCLC-pt, with a median survival of 5.9 (5.0–6.9) months (hazard ratio 2.51, 95% CI 1.39–4.52; p=0.002) and patients treated with SCLC-t chemotherapy, with a median survival of 6.7 (5.0–8.5) months (hazard ratio 1.66, 95% CI 1.08–2.56; p=0.020). In patients with LCNEC, NSCLC-t chemotherapy results in longer overall survival compared to NSCLC-pt and SCLC-t chemotherapy. Treatment for pulmonary LCNEC is debated; we show favourable results for standard gemcitabine NSCLC chemotherapy http://ow.ly/2Xt730a0PK0


An omni-directional catadioptric acquisition system (ODCA system) is provided to address the problem of producing real time, 360°, stereoscopic video of remote events for virtual reality (VR) viewing. The ODCA system is a video image-capture assembly that includes a cylinder with multiple apertures arranged around its circumference to admit light as the ODCA system rotates about a central axis. Inside the cylinder, there is a mirror on the left and right side of each aperture that reflects light rays into the cylinder from different angles. As the cylinder rotates, the light rays are admitted through the apertures and reflected from the two mirrors to a curved mirror in the center of the cylinder. This curved mirror directs the rays down through a catadioptric lens assembly, which focuses the rays onto another curved mirror near the bottom of the ODCA system. This second mirror reflects the rays to a set of line-scan image sensors arranged around the second mirror. The line-scan image sensors capture the rays for later reproduction as stereoscopic video.