Fundamentally, computers just deal with numbers. They store letters and other characters by assigning a number for each one. There are hundreds of different encoding systems for mapping characters to numbers, but Unicode promises a single mapping. Unicode enables a single software product or website to be targeted across multiple platforms, languages and countries without re-engineering. It's no wonder that industry giants like Apple, Hewlett-Packard, IBM andMicrosoft have all adopted Unicode.Containing everything you need to understand Unicode, this comprehensive reference from O'Reilly takes you on a detailed guide through the complex character world. For starters, it explains how to identify and classify characters - whether they're common, uncommon, or exotic. It then shows you how to type them, utilize their properties, and process character data in a robust manner.The book is broken up into three distinct parts. The first few chapters provide you with a tutorial presentation of Unicode and character data. It gives you a firm grasp of the terminology you need to reference various components, including character sets, fonts and encodings, glyphs and character repertoires.The middle section offers more detailed information about using Unicode and other character codes. It explains the principles and methods of defining character codes, describes some of the widely used codes, and presents code conversion techniques. It also discusses properties of characters, collation and sorting, line breaking rules and Unicode encodings. The final four chapters cover more advanced material, such as programming to support Unicode.You simply can't afford to be without the nuggets of valuable information detailed in Unicode Explained.


This publication is a compendium of three papers commissioned as part of the Stewardship Dialogues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health, a project of the Lowitja Institute. The first two were written to inform the discussion during the Stewardship Dialogues and the third was written after the Dialogues to address an identified need for decision makers to have access to a more systematic review of the evidence about the effectiveness of different interventions. These papers review the evidence on the importance of a healthy start to life and on interventions to promote good beginnings. The Stewardship Dialogues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health were established to test if an open exploration of underlying barriers to better progress in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy and programs can  generate new ways to approach some of the 'wicked problems' of policy and implementation. Dialogue participants identified that education and early years interventions, implemented in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and properly adapted to their settings, held the potential to produce significant long-term effects on health and wellbeing.


Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Titles 2005 Winner Amidst the vast array of literature on the First Amendment, it is rare to hear a fresh voice speak about the First Amendment, but in Truth, Autonomy, and Speech, Susan H. Williams presents a strikingly original interpretation and defense of the First Amendment, written from a feminist perspective. Drawing on work from several disciplines--including law, political theory, philosophy, and anthropology--the book develops alternative accounts of truth and autonomy as the foundations for freedom of expression. Building on feminist understandings of self and the social world, Williams argues that both truth and autonomy are fundamentally relational. With great clarity and insight, Williams demonstrates that speech is the means by which we create rather than discover truth and the primary mechanism through which we tell the stories that constitute our autonomy. She examines several controversial issues in the law of free speech--including campaign finance reform, the public forum doctrine, and symbolic speech--and concludes that the legal doctrine through which we interpret and apply the First Amendment should be organized to protect speech that serves the purposes of truth and autonomy.


Research on the multinational corporation (MNC) has highlighted the development of knowledge that occurs in geographically dispersed subsidiaries, and several scholars have emphasized the significance of subsidiary knowledge for the success of the MNC. This thesis contributes to the understanding of how knowledge is developed within MNC subsidiaries and how the development of subsidiary knowledge is related to the transfer of subsidiary knowledge and subsidiary impact on the performance of the larger MNC.The empirical setting consists of a combination of quantitative and qualitative data. The results of the empirical studies suggest that the development of subsidiary knowledge is contingent upon the business conditions within the local environment and, in particularly, interactive learning within relationships with important business actors external to the organization. Furthermore, the findings show that the development of knowledge within these subsidiaries is driven not only by external actors, but also by business relationships within the corporation. The results reveal that, whether a subsidiary learns and develops knowledge from external or internal sources has direct implications on how the knowledge can be used and applied by other units within the MNC, which in turn affects the extent to which the subsidiary can contribute to the performance of the MNC. It is also revealed that the barriers to transfer are especially manifest in situations in which a subsidiary is deeply embedded in relationships with demanding customers or suppliers. Thus, the embeddedness of subsidiaries in external relationships is a constraining factor for knowledge transfer. In situations in which the subsidiary is deeply embedded in its local market, the headquarters can influence the transfer across subsidiaries through the use of means such as centres of excellence.


The development, manufacturing, and use of contraceptive methods from the late nineteenth century to the present, viewed from the perspective of reproductive justice.

 The beginning of the modern contraceptive era began in 1882, when Dr. Aletta Jacobs opened the first birth control clinic in Amsterdam. The founding of this facility, and the clinical provision of contraception that it enabled, marked the moment when physicians started to take the prevention of pregnancy seriously as a medical concern. In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Donna Drucker traces the history of modern contraception, outlining the development, manufacturing, and use of contraceptive methods from the opening of Dr. Jacobs's clinic to the present. Drucker approaches the subject from the perspective of reproductive justice: the right to have a child, the right not to have a child, and the right to parent children safely and healthily.

 Drucker describes contraceptive methods available before the pill, including the diaphragm (dispensed at the Jacobs clinic) and condom, spermicidal jellies, and periodic abstinences. She looks at the development and dissemination of the pill and its chemical descendants; describes technological developments in such non-hormonal contraceptives as the cervical cap and timing methods (including the ?rhythm method? favored by the Roman Catholic church); and explains the concept of reproductive justice. Finally, Drucker considers the future of contraception?the adaptations of existing methods, new forms of distribution, and ongoing efforts needed to support contraceptive access worldwide.


Consensus among economists and policy makers is a rarity, an elusive trait in a hyper-polarized political climate. However, there exists a point of exception on which there is near unanimous consensus, higher education provides the surest pathway to upward socioeconomic mobility and long-term wealth generation for individuals across all socioeconomic lines. Historically, investment in postsecondary education has carried outsize returns over the course of one's lifetime in terms of both income growth and wealth accumulation. Over the course of the past ten years, this fundamental pathway, and the market that enables it, has become fraught with risk and its future is far from certain. Since the beginning of the 2007-08 financial crisis, a confluence of events, from the explosion in the cost of college tuition to the stagnation of real median income, has led to a looming sense that the precipitous rise in student debt is reaching an inflection point, on the verge of a macroeconomic crisis with wide-ranging repercussions. From 2006 to 2016, according to the Consumer Price Index maintained by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the cost of attending college increased dramatically by 62.7 percent for higher education tuition, 88 percent for college textbooks, and 51 percent for school housing. Over roughly the same period of time, from the beginning of 2007 through the end of 2017, overall outstanding student loan debt in the United States grew from $545 billion to $1.47 trillion. As a result, we have seen a range of significant adverse effects on economic outcomes for college graduates and second-order effects on consumer credit markets. These effects range from longer periods of time spent in parental co-residence and decreased rates of homeownership to additional constraints on young borrowers looking to obtain credit cards, auto loans, and mortgages. Bloom Economic Research Division 1


The leaders of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) who seized power in Beijing in 1949 viewed Tibet as Chinese territory. In this respect, they were no different from previous rulers of China. The chairman of the CCP, Mao Zedong, carefully devised a plan to re-annex Tibet, which had been effectively independent of China since 1911. The CCP's recent victory in the Chinese civil war gave Mao high confidence that he could reclaim Tibet without provoking outside intervention. Such a move not only would bring international political benefits but would also carry a symbolic meaning at home and thereby legitimize the rule of the CCP. Although Mao sent troops to Tibet, he also planned to rely on negotiations and coercive diplomacy. This article highlights the complicated relationships that emerged on the international scene as a result of China's actions in the early 1950s.


Predicting the insertion loss of an opening backed with an enclosed space is important for building noise control. Recent research in sound transmission through apertures of finite depth in infinite rigid baffles has included the effects of propagating and evanescent modes within the aperture in order to extend models to higher frequencies. The present study extends the model to the case of the aperture backed by a cavity as opposed to sound radiating into half-space. The role of coupling between the aperture modes, radiation modes, and cavity modes in the transmission was investigated. The results were compared to those of previous models which neglected the depth of the aperture and finite element modeling using COMSOL Multiphysics. Comparisons show that the current model is effective at predicting the sound transmission loss through the aperture and the acoustic field within the cavity for an obliquely incident plane wave. By changing impedance conditions on the half-space side of the aperture and within the aperture, the model has been used to evaluate passive noise control techniques.


In late 1804, William Blackwood established a small publishing and bookselling firm in Edinburgh. Over the next 175 years, William Blackwood & Sons became one of the leading publishers in Britain, enjoying both local and international success. Early on it championed the works of Scottish writers, and later gained acclaim as the publisher of G.W. Steevens, George Eliot, Charles Whibley, and Joseph Conrad. Its political influence was also widespread; in 1817 it founded the monthly Blackwood's Magazine, which featured literary, critical, political, and journalistic commentary and analysis, and was a powerful force in British conservative politics. Two hundred years after the founding of this significant influence on British literary, political, and social history, this collection of essays reappraises the place of the Blackwood firm and its magazine in literary and print culture history. Editor David Finkelstein brings together an array of eminent scholars and critics from the US, Canada, Scandinavia, and the UK to examine Blackwoods from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives. The resulting collection covers an impressive range of subject areas, including Romantic and Victorian literature, print culture, media history, and New Journalism. Awarded the 2007 Robert Colby Scholarly Book Prize by the Research Society for Victorian Periodicals


Human life depends on the availability of oxygen and its conversion into energy used by living cells. Reduced oxygen to tissues is referred to as hypoxia, and may result from decreased oxygen delivery or mitochondrial dysfunction. In the setting of tissue hypoxia due to anaemia or other causes, several adaptive and coordinated physiologic processes are initiated to maintain oxygen delivery and limit oxygen consumption. Mechanisms to increase oxygen delivery in the face of anaemia or global hypoxia include the stimulation of erythropoiesis, and increasing cardiac output. Oxygenation availability is further maximised by decreases in the haemoglobin-oxygen binding affinity, increases in tissue oxygen extraction, and via changes in regional blood flow. Mild to moderate anaemia, especially if chronic, is generally well tolerated given these adaptive processes. In states of inflammation or chronic disease, down regulation of haemoglobin occurs and may represent an important adaptive mechanism.

Key Concepts:

Aerobic metabolism and human life depend on the availability of oxygen.

Anaemia results when the haemoglobin levels are below normal and, if severe, may result in tissue hypoxia.

Adaptive mechanisms exist to compensate for anaemia or other causes of tissue hypoxia so that oxygen delivery is maintained and balanced with oxygen consumption.

A major adaptive mechanism in response to anaemia is to increase production of the growth hormone erythropoietin, leading to the formation of red blood cells.

The anaemia associated with inflammation has features of an adaptive response, is generally well tolerated and rarely requires treatment.

Keywords:

anaemia;
erythropoietin;
adaptive responses;
hypoxia;
oxygen sensing;
erythropoiesis;
oxygen delivery;
anemia of chronic disease


Freshwater scarcity and other abiotic factors, such as climate and soil salinity in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region, are affecting crop production. Therefore, farmers are looking for salt-tolerant crops that can successfully be grown in these harsh environments using poor-quality groundwater. Barley is the main staple food crop for most of the countries of this region, including Tunisia. In this study, the AquaCrop model with a salinity module was used to evaluate the performance of two barley varieties contrasted for their resistance to salinity in three contrasted agro-climatic areas in Tunisia. These zones represent sub-humid, semi-arid, and arid climates. The model was calibrated and evaluated using field data collected from two cropping seasons (2012–14), then the calibrated model was used to develop different scenarios under irrigation with saline water from 5, 10 to 15 dS m−1. The scenario results indicate that biomass and yield were reduced by 40% and 27% in the semi-arid region (KAI) by increasing the irrigation water salinity from 5 to 15 dS m−1, respectively. For the salt-sensitive variety, the reductions in biomass and grain yield were about 70%, respectively, although overall biomass and yield in the arid region (MED) were lower than in the KAI area, mainly with increasing salinity levels. Under the same environmental conditions, biomass and yield reductions for the salt-tolerant barley variety were only 16% and 8%. For the salt-sensitive variety, the biomass and grain yield reductions in the MED area were about 12% and 43%, respectively, with a similar increase in the salinity levels. Similar trends were visible in water productivities. Interestingly, biomass, grain yield, and water productivity values for both barley varieties were comparable in the sub-humid region (BEJ) that does not suffer from salt stress. However, the results confirm the interest of cultivating a variety tolerant to salinity in environments subjected to salt stress. Therefore, farmers can grow both varieties in the rainfed of BEJ; however, in KAI and MED areas where irrigation is necessary for crop growth, the salt-tolerant barley variety should be preferred. Indeed, the water cost will be reduced by 49% through growing a tolerant variety irrigated with saline water of 15 dS m−1.


Purpose: Comparing the optical coherence tomography (OCT) pachymetry patterns in keratoconus suspect and normal people Methods: Thirty-two keratoconus suspects and 36 healthy eyes were selected within the age range of 20-30 yrs. Their pachymetry pattern was obtained through OCT Visante in the minimum thickness spot, upper and lower corneal difference (I-S), lower temporal, and upper nasal thickness (IT-SN), withdrawal or non-withdrawal of the minimum thickness area of cornea from 0-2 central zone using the output map. Results: In all measured parameters a significant difference was observed between the two groups (p<0.0001). The Keratoconus suspects had a thinner cornea and showed more changes in corneal thickness than the normal group. Conclusion: It seems that an OCT system of anterior segment can be utilized to assess patients prior to refractive surgery or Keratoconus screening, along with equipments such as Pentacam, and Orbscan.


We construct deformed photon-added nonlinear coherent states (DPANCSs) by application of the deformed creation operator upon the nonlinear coherent states obtained as eigenstates of the deformed annihilation operator and by application of a deformed displacement operator upon the vacuum state. We evaluate some statistical properties like the Mandel parameter, Husimi, and Wigner functions for these states and analyze their differences; we give closed analytical expressions for them. We found a profound difference in the statistical properties of the DPANCSs obtained from the two abovementioned generalizations.


Background: Many studies have proposed the lack of Lewis antigen as a marker for coronary artery disease (CAD); on the contrary, some of the studies found no association in this regard. This study aims to assess the association of the expression of Lewis antigen as an independent risk factor for CAD separately in males and females. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, patients with angiographically proven CAD were taken as test group, and angiographically, negative patients were included as a control group. The individuals were examined for established CAD risk factor and Lewis antigen expression on red cell. Red cell Lewis phenotyping was done using microcolumn gel agglutination technology. Statistical tests were applied to see the association between lack of Lewis antigen expression and CAD. Results: Of these 232 patients included in the study, 161 patients had more than 50% luminal stenosis in a major epicardial artery on coronary angiography (Test Group), and 71 were normal on angiography (Control Group). When males and females were considered together, there was an increased frequency of Lewis-negative phenotype among the angiography-positive group (26.7%) as compared to angiography normal control group (16.9 %), though was not statistically significant (P = 0.19). When males and females were segregated in multivariate analysis, Le (a-b-) females had a higher incidence of CAD (P = 0.03) with the odds ratio of 4.97, though an association was not found significant in males (P = 0.71). Conclusion: The association between Lewis phenotypes and CAD was not significant in males and in among the overall study population, but this association was statistically significant in females. Further studies based on a larger sample size may substantiate as well as delineate the possible hypotheses.


The area between the Grand Lake Thrust and the Cabot Fault is underlain by metamorphic rocks that separate the most easterly exposures of the west Newfoundland carbonate terrane from the most westerly exposures of ophiolitic and volcanic rocks of central Newfoundland. The major rock types present are; felsic gneisses in the west, anorthositic rocks in the southwest, semipelitic to psammitic schists in the east, and granitic intrusions within the gneisses. Mafic dykes intrude the gneisses, but are unknown within the schists. Finally, west of the Grand Lake Thrust but included within the map area, are limestones and phyllites of the west Newfoundland carbonate terrane. -- The limestones and phyllites occur in the western part of the map area, west of the Grand Lake Thrust. They are deformed, and vary from unmetamorphosed to mildly metamorphosed( chlorite zone of the greenschist facies). -- The felsic gneisses locally contain granulite facies mineral assemblages, but are everywhere affected by later retrograde metamorphism that increases in intensity from greenschist to amphibolite facies, from west to east. The mafic dykes intruding the gneisses exhibit the same effects of later metamorphism. The metamorphic change is accompanied by increasing intensity of deformation from west to east across the area. -- The semipelitic to psammitic schists are confined to the eastern part of the area, where they exhibit upper greenschist to amphibolite facies mineral assemblages. These rocks are polydeformed and faulted against the gneisses to the west. -- The granitic intrusions occur within the gneisses only. They contain no evidence of the early granulite facies metamorphic event present in the host gneisses, and are for the most part massive. -- The gneissic rocks are interpreted as Grenvillian inliers (basement), and are correlated with similar rocks of the Grenvillian Indian Head Complex,nearby to the west. The limestones, phyllites, and polydeformed schists are interpreted as a cover sequence affected by Paleozoic deformation, which also involved the basement gneisses and mafic dykes. The granitic bodies are interpreted as later intrusions, possibly related to Taconic or Acadian orogenesis. The stratigraphic and orogenic development of the area can be related to the formation of the Late Precambrian continental margin of eastern North America, and its Paleozoic destruction.


The fabrication of MEMS has been predominately achieved by etching the polysilicon material. However, new materials are in large demands that could overcome the hurdles in fabrication or manufacturing process. Although, an enormous amount of work being accomplished in the area, most of the information is treated as confidential or privileged. It is extremely hard to find the meaningful information for the new or related developments. This book is collection of chapters written by experts in MEMS and NEMS technology. Chapters are contributed on the development of new MEMS and NEMS materials as well as on the properties of these devices. Important properties such as residual stresses and buckling behavior in the devices are discussed as separate chapters. Various models have been included in the chapters that studies the mode and mechanism of failure of the MEMS and NEMS.

This book is meant for the graduate students, research scholars and engineers who are involved in the research and developments of advanced MEMS and NEMS for a wide variety of applications. Critical information has been included for the readers that will help them in gaining precise control over dimensional stability, quality, reliability, productivity and maintenance in MEMS and NEMS. No such book is available in the market that addresses the developments and failures in these advanced devices.


We present measurements of the transverse- momentum dependence of elliptic flow v2 for identified pions and (anti)protons at midrapidity (|η|<0.35), in 0%–5% central p+Au and He3+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV. When taken together with previously published measurements in d+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV, the results cover a broad range of small-collision-system multiplicities and intrinsic initial geometries. We observe a clear mass-dependent splitting of v2(pT) in d+Au and He3+Au collisions, just as in large nucleus-nucleus (A+A) collisions, and a smaller splitting in p+Au collisions. Both hydrodynamic and transport model calculations successfully describe the data at low pT (<1.5GeV/c), but fail to describe various features at higher pT. In all systems, the v2 values follow an approximate quark-number scaling as a function of the hadron transverse kinetic energy per constituent quark (KET/nq), which was also seen previously in A+A collisions.


Introduction: Breast cancer has been ranked first as the most prevalent type of cancer and the leading cause of cancer-related mortality among women worldwide. Letrozole (LTZ), an aromatase inhibitor, has been shown to be an effective and relatively safe agent for the treatment of hormonally-positive breast cancer in postmenopausal women. However, the drug suffers from poor water solubility and rapid metabolism, leading to low oral bioavailability, and thus, lower anticancer effects at target sites. Interestingly, polymer-based nanoparticles (NPs) have been reported to be effective drug delivery systems as integrating drugs into these carriers have presented substantial improvements in drugs tissue distribution and tissue selectivity with superior pharmacokinetic profiles. Therefore, this study was designed to incorporate LTZ into an FDA approved polymer; poly (D,L-Lactide) (PDLLA) nanoparticles to improve its physiochemical properties and bioavailability. Methods: Emulsion-solvent evaporation technique was used to produce LTZ-PDLLA NPs. Briefly, 250 mg PDLLA was mixed with different w/w ratios of LTZ (10-30%) in 20 ml dichloromethane. The prepared solution was slowly poured via a syringe into an aqueous phase (140 ml) to form an emulsion which was followed by a two-step sonication. The emulsion was sonicated using Branson® B5510 ultrasonic cleaner at 40 KHz frequency for 30 minutes, vortexed for 2 minutes, then sonicated again for another 30 minutes. Solvent was allowed to evaporate completely by stirring for 2 hours at room temperature. The resultant dispersed particles were centrifuged at 8500 rpm, 5 °C for 2 hours. Supernatant was discarded and the pellet comprising the NPs was dried under vacuum over 48 hours. The obtained NPs were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Zetasizer, Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD), & Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC). Results: LTZ-PDLLA nanoparticles were prepared with a high yield that reached 85%. The NPs were spherical in shape with smooth surfaces across all LTZ loadings. An increase was seen in particle size from 242 nm to 365 nm upon increasing LTZ concentration from 0% to 30% w/w. Such finding was expected since larger contents of LTZ would definitely contribute to the increase in the diameter of the enclosing polymer. Particles were polydisperse in general with a polydispersity index (PDI) ranging from 0.38 to 0.44 and this was mainly due to the fact that non-uniform force was applied to each droplet injected into the aqueous medium while producing the emulsion. DSC and XRD analyses confirmed the crystalline nature of LTZ that was lost after being incorporated into the amorphous polymer, PDLLA. This will have a great impact on the dissolution rate and later on the release rate from PDLLA in which amorphous particles tend to be released easily and in a more controlled fashion than crystalline counterparts. The actual content of LTZ loaded inside PDLLA was expressed as entrapment efficiency and calculated via UPLC analysis through subtracting the amount of LTZ present in the supernatant from the initial amount of LTZ added in each formulation. Very high entrapment efficiency was obtained with all formulations ranging from 87.9% with 10% LTZ-PDLLA up to 96.7% with 30% LTZ-PDLLA. As such, high concentrations of LTZ can be delivered to the target sites with minimum drug loadings. Conclusion: LTZ-PDLLA nanoparticles were successfully prepared with high entrapment efficiency using emulsion-solvent evaporation technique. The physiochemical properties and entrapment efficiency were dependent on LTZ concentration. Future work should focus on reducing the wide size distribution by formulating monodisperse particles which would allow uniform tissue distribution and longer sustained release actions upon administration. Additionally, in-vitro testing is needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of the new formulations.


"Photography Changes Everything" drawn from the online Smithsonian Photography Initiative offers a provocative rethinking of photography's impact on our culture and our lives. It is a reader-friendly exploration of the many ways photographs package information and values, demand and hold attention, and shape our knowledge of and experience in the world. At this transitional moment in visual culture, "Photography Changes Everything" provides a unique opportunity to better understand the history, practice, and power of photography. The publication harnesses the extraordinary visual assets of the Smithsonian Institution's museums, science centers, and archives to trigger an unprecedented and interdisciplinary dialogue about how photography does more than record the world how it shapes and changes every aspect of our experience of and in the world. The book features over three hundred images and nearly one hundred engaging short texts commissioned from experts, writers, inventors, public figures, and everyday folk - Hugh Hefner, John Baldessari, John Waters, Robert Adams, Sandra Phillips, and others. Each story responds to images selected by project contributors. Together they engage readers in a timely exploration of the extent to which our lives have been transformed through our interactions with photographic imagery.


A dictionary begins when it no longer gives the meaning of words, but their tasks. Thus formless is not only an adjective having a given meaning, but a term that serves to bring things down in the world, generally requiring that each thing have its form. What it designates has no rights in any sense and gets itself squashed everywhere, like a spider or an earthworm. In fact, for academic men to be happy, the universe would have to take shape. All of philosophy has no other goal: it is a matter of giving a frock coat to what is, a mathematical frock coat. On the other hand, affirming that the universe resembles nothing and is only formless amounts to saying that the universe is something like a spider or spit. Georges Bataille, "Formless"1


The Ski2-Ski3-Ski8 (SKI) complex is a conserved multi-protein assembly required for the cytoplasmic functions of the exosome, including messenger RNA (mRNA) turnover, surveillance
and interference. The helicase Ski2, the tetratricopeptide repeat (TPR) protein Ski3 and the �-propeller Ski8 assemble in a heterotetramer with 1:1:2 stoichiometry. While the function of the Ski2-Ski3-Ski8 complex as a general cofactor of the cytoplasmic exosome has been well established, it remains largely unclear how it contributes to the regulation of the
exosome. The PhD thesis at hand addresses this question by investigating the structural and biochemical properties of the Ski2-Ski3-Ski8 complex.
Solving the crystal structure of the 113 kDa helicase region of S. cerevisiae Ski2 by experimental phasing revealed the presence of a canonical DExH core and an atypical accessory domain that is inserted in the helicase core. This insertion domain binds ribonucleic acid (RNA) unspeci�cally and is located at the RNA entry site of the helicase core. The overall architecture of Ski2 including the presence of an accessory domain is similar to
the structure of the related helicase Mtr4, but the structural and biochemical properties of the accessory domains from both proteins are di�erent. The Ski2 insertion domain is not required for formation of the Ski2-Ski3-Ski8 complex. Its removal allowed to crystallize a Ski2�insert-Ski3-Ski8 complex from S. cerevisiae, and the crystal structure of this 370 kDa core complex was determined experimentally. It shows that Ski3 forms an array of 33 TPR motifs, creating a sca�old for the other subunits. Ski3 and the two Ski8 subunits bind the helicase core of Ski2 and position it centrally within the complex. This creates an extended internal RNA channel and modulates the enzymatic
properties of the Ski2 helicase. Both Ski8 subunits are bound through a structurally conserved motif. A similar motif is present and functional in yeast Spo11, a protein that initiates deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) double strand breaks during meiotic recombination. Association of Ski8 to either complex is mutually exclusive, rationalizing how Ski8 can perform its two distinct roles in mRNA metabolism and meiotic recombination.
Biochemical studies suggest that the SKI complex can thread RNAs directly to the exosome, coupling the helicase and the exoribonuclease through a continuous channel of 43-44
nucleotides length. Finally, an internal regulatory mechanism in the Ski2-Ski3-Ski8 complex was identi�ed. Both the Ski2-insertion domain and the Ski3 N-terminus cooperate to inhibit ATPase and helicase activity of Ski2 when bound in the SKI complex. Thus, the SKI complex regulates exosome activity in two ways. First by a direct substrate channeling mechanism to the exosome that connects helicase and nuclease activities of both complexes which may activate the exosome towards certain substrates. Second, by an inhibitory mechanism that regulates substrate access to the helicase complex, which is a prerequisite for controlling the exosome's substrate speci�city.
This doctoral thesis provides the �rst structural description of the entire yeast SKI complex and identi�es two mechanisms that may contribute to regulation of the activity of the cytoplasmic exosome.


Abstract To foster effective use of artificial intelligence planning and scheduling (P&S) systems in the real world, it is of great importance to both (a) broaden direct access to the technology for the end users and (b) significantly increase their trust in such technology. Automated P&S systems often bring solutions to the users that are neither 'obvious' nor immediately acceptable to them. This is because these tools directly reason on causal, temporal, and resource constraints; moreover, they employ resolution processes designed to optimize the solution with respect to non-trivial evaluation functions. Knowledge engineering environments aim at simplifying direct access to the technology for people other than the original system designers, while the integration of validation and verification (V&V) capabilities in such environments may potentially enhance the users' trust in the technology. Somehow, V&V techniques may represent a complementary technology, with respect to P&S, that contributes to developing richer software environments to synthesize a new generation of robust problem-solving applications. The integration of V&V and P&S techniques in a knowledge engineering environment is the topic of this paper. In particular, it analyzes the use of state-of-the-art V&V technology to support knowledge engineering for a timeline-based planning system called MrSPOCK. The paper presents the application domain for which the automated solver has been developed, introduces the timeline-based planning ideas, and then describes the different possibilities to apply V&V to planning. Hence, it continues by describing the step of adding V&V functionalities around the specialized planner, MrSPOCK. New functionalities have been added to perform both model validation and plan verification. Lastly, a specific section describes the benefits as well as the performance of such functionalities.


Shigella is associated with a significant burden of disease worldwide among individuals of all ages and is the major cause of moderate and severe diarrhea in children under five years of age in low- and middle-income countries. Several candidate vaccines against Shigella species are currently under clinical development. The investigational 1790GAHB vaccine against Shigella sonnei is based on GMMA (Generalized Modules for Membrane Antigens) technology. The vaccine was well tolerated and induced high antibody levels in early-phase clinical trials in both Shigella-endemic and non-endemic settings. The present analysis assessed the bactericidal activity of antibodies induced by 1790GAHB in healthy Kenyan adults during a phase 2a, controlled, randomized study (NCT02676895). Participants received two doses of 1790GAHB 4 weeks apart containing either 1.5/25 µg or 6/100 µg O antigen/protein, or active comparator vaccines (Control). Serum bactericidal activity (SBA) against S. sonnei was assessed at pre-vaccination (D1), 28 days post-first dose (D29) and 28 days post-second dose (D57), using a luminescence-based assay. Most participants had SBA titers above the lower limit of quantification of the assay at D1. SBA geometric mean titers increased 3.4-fold in the 1.5/25 µg group and 6.3-fold in the 6/100 µg group by D29 and were maintained at D57. There was no increase in SBA geometric mean titers in the Control group. A strong correlation was observed between SBA titers and anti-S. sonnei lipopolysaccharide serum immunoglobulin G antibody concentrations (Pearson correlation coefficient = 0.918), indicating that SBA can effectively complement enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay data by indicating the functionality of 1790GAHB-induced antibodies.


Based on a study of several cherty-terrigenous sequences of the Samarka terrane in Sikhote-Alin, comprising lithologic and paleontological analysis, the different age of the transitional layers from marine formations to paleocontinental-margin deposits was established and the succession of marine fragments accretion was restored. The obtained data shows that low structural level of the Samarka accretionary prism is composed of a minimum of four successive tectonostratigraphic units that differ both in age of accreted marine fragments and time of their accretion. Each unit consists of deposits of a paleo-oceanic plates gradually changing above on a section by terrigenous rocks, which further are replaced by an olistostrome. The relatively young pelagic rocks and overlapping terrigenous deposits occur structurally below older deposits. Such structure of the Samarka prism results from a consecutive accretion of the fragments of a different-age sites of a paleo-ocean plate. Radiolarian age data for the accretionary prism indicates that fragments of a Late Permian-Triassic, Early Triassic-Early Jurassic and Early Triassic-Middle Jurassic paleo-oceanic plate were consecutively accreted into the prism.


At sensor thermal infrared (TIR) radiation varies depending on the temperature and emissivity of surface materials and the modifying impact of atmospheric absorption and emission. TIR imaging spectrometry often involves extracting temperature, emissivity, and/or surface composition, which are useful in diverse studies ranging from climatology to land use analyses. A two-stage application of temperature emissivity separation (TES) using spectral mixture analysis (SMA) or TESSMA, was employed to characterize isothermal mixtures on a subpixel basis. This two-stage approach first uses the relationship between a virtual cold endmember fraction and surface temperature to extract initial image temperature estimates. Second, an isothermal SMA application searches the region within the maximum temperature error range of the initial estimate, selecting the best subpixel spectral mixture fit. Work presented includes characterizations of synthetically generated temperature and constituent mixture gradient test images, and a discussion of errors associated with selecting temperature search ranges 25% and 75% smaller than the initial temperature calculation error range. Results using this two-stage approach indicate improved overall temperature estimates, constituent estimates, and constituent fraction estimates using simulated TIR data.


This paper describes results from a large-scale survey to explore users' comfort with different styles of avatars for workplace communication. Thirty-one avatars were evaluated based on users' ratings along several dimensions and grouped into five different clusters. The highest rated cluster was the set of formal, realistic avatars that users did not feel were creepy. These avatars were ranked comparatively with webcam photos, and users felt that they would be appropriate for work. Our results also revealed that realism is nuanced, as avatars in another cluster were also rated high on realism, but were felt to be inappropriate for work. Finally, this work also demonstrates that people are more particular concerning which type of avatar they are represented by, compared to ones they interact with.


In "Millions Like Us" Virginia Nicholson tells the story of the women's Second World War, through a host of individual women's experiences. We tend to see the Second World War as a man's war, featuring Spitfire crews and brave deeds on the Normandy beaches. But in conditions of "Total War" millions of women - in the Services and on the Home Front - demonstrated that they were cleverer, more broad-minded and altogether more complex than anyone had ever guessed. "Millions Like Us" tells the story of how these women loved, suffered, laughed, grieved and dared; how they re-made their world in peacetime. And how they would never be the same again..."Vividly entertaining, uplifting and humbling, "Millions Like Us" deserves to be a bestseller". (Bel Mooney, "The Daily Mail"). "Passionate, fascinating, profoundly sympathetic". (Artemis Cooper, "Evening Standard"). Virginia Nicholson was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and grew up in Yorkshire and Sussex. She studied at Cambridge University and lived abroad in France and Italy, then worked as a documentary researcher for BBC Television. Her books include the acclaimed social history "Among the Bohemians - Experiments in Living 1900-1939", and "Singled Out - How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War", both published by Penguin in 2002 and 2007. She is married to a writer, has three children and lives in Sussex.


The theme of personal identity has continued to arouse the interest of philosophy and the human sciences over recent decades. The present state of the question, after much debate, is of undoubted interest for theological anthropology. For this reason, the question is approached from three angles: from that of social psychology, from that of philosophy and from that of sociological critique. The second part, after a brief « apologetic excursus » attempts to offer a vision of « christian identity » as: identification with Christ, as a paradoxical state, intermediate and incomplete within the Church


As in Pidjiguiti in Guiné-Bissau or Baixa de Cassanje in Angola, the massacre that occurred in the northern Mozambican town of Mueda on 16 June 1960 has been inscribed in the nationalist narrative as the breaking point of anti-colonial unrest and the trigger of the armed liberation struggle. In the past 20 years several scholars have questioned the central tenets of the nationalist interpretation, especially the idea that the aim of the demonstration was political independence – a claim considered too lofty to be articulated by a mass of illiterate peasants guided by leaders enmeshed in ethnic organisations. Caught between the rhetorics of resistance and revisionism, the colonial archive and oral testimony, the event itself has been rendered illegible. To rescue 16 June from such deadlock, this article turns towards a different kind of historical material: song. Proceeding archaeologically, it moves from songs that reproduce the official version; through more ancient songs, which express some direct experience of the event, however layered and reformulated; to songs that were sung at the time of the massacre. These songs and the echoes they elicit from other sources pave the way to a re-interpretation of the event: from the point zero of a vanguardist history of national consciousness, to a utopian moment in which independence appeared as a possibility, however unclearly understood, the political imagination expanding beyond any consideration of objective constraint.


Abstract The objective of the study was to determine whether a relationship exists between the two common methods for assessing postural stability in athletes: the time-to-stabilisation (TTS) via force-plate and the Biodex Balance System (BBS). The conditions under which these measurements assess dynamic postural control may not provide sufficient feedback to practitioners. Fourty-four amateur soccer players with no history of musculoskeletal disorders volunteered for the study. Pearson correlation was used to compare the anterior–posterior (AP), medio-lateral (ML), and the overall stability indexes measured by BBS, with the corresponding parameters of TTS assessed via force plate. There was no significant correlation between any parameters of dynamic stability measured by force-plate and the stability indexes. However, there was a significant correlation between the resulting vectors and the AP component of TTS for each jump protocol. Furthermore, forward drop landing exhibited shortest TTS in AP direction, while lateral drop landing resulted in longer ML TTS relative to both forward jumps (p < 0.001). These results demonstrate that the TTS and BBS stability indexes should be used as distinct measures of dynamic postural stability. TTS protocols may be modified to target a specific training conditions or athletic population.


Human dignity plays a central and constitutive role within the German and Dutch criminal justice systems. It influences not only the overall approach to, and accepted purpose of, punishment, but also the types of sanctions that are typically doled out, the setup of their prisons, and the conditions in which prisoners find themselves once in custody. Although human dignity is not the paramount value in the American criminal justice system, this article contends that recent criminal justice reform efforts implicate human dignity into system practices to a greater degree than ever before. While the reform efforts are prompted by a concern for efficiency and efficacy, policymakers are increasingly relying on research that indicates that more humane and individualized treatment of offenders is a key component to achieving desired public safety outcomes. The article starts with a brief discussion of how human dignity became a central value of the European system and contrasts this with the historically weaker sway human dignity has played in the American system. It then demonstrates that the principle of human dignity is gaining influence through recent legislative reform efforts in the United States as well as changes in correctional training and supervision practices.


The Montreal Massacre: A Story of Membership Categorization Analysis adopts an ethnomethodological viewpoint to analyze how the murder of women by a lone gunman at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal was presented to the public via media publication over a two-week period in 1989. All that the public came to know and understand of the murders, the murderer, and the victims was constituted in the description and commentaries produced by the media. What the murders became, therefore, was an expression of the methods used to describe and evaluate them, and central to these methods was membership category analysis -- the human practice of perceiving people, places, and events as "members" of "categories," and to use these to explain actions. This is evident in the various versions comprising the overall story of the Massacre: it was a crime; it was a tragedy; it was a horror story. The killer's story is also based on his own categorial analysis (he said his victims were "feminists"). The media commentators formulated the significance of the murders in categorial terms: it implicated a wider problem, that of violence against women, and thus the reasons for the murders were shown to be categorial matters. As a contribution to sociology, and as a demonstration of the significance of ethnomethodology for understanding social life, the book reveals the methodical and particularly categorial character of how sense is made of events such as this and how such methodical and categorial resources are central to human interaction.


BACKGROUND
Approximately 25% of the cumulative AIDS cases in Jamaica involve adolescents and young adults. However the lives of adolescents living with HIV within Jamaica and the Caribbean have been understudied.

OBJECTIVES
(1) To describe the sociodemographic characteristics of HIV+ Jamaican adolescents who have ever been a part of the Kingston Paediatric/Perinatal HIV Programme (KPAIDS) from September 1, 2002 to August 31, 2006 (2). To identify predictors of HIV/AIDS confirmation as well as factors associated or uniquely present in these adolescents by their guardian status.

METHODS
Seventy-two HIV+ adolescents, ages 10-19 years, were included. Factors studied included demographics as well as time to and time between HIV and AIDS confirmation. Data were analyzed by bivariate and multivariate statistics.

RESULTS
The mean age of the adolescents was 12.6 +/- 2.8 years with slightly more males (52.8%) in the programme. There were equal proportions of adolescents living with HIV as with AIDS (43.1%). There were equal proportions who were lost to follow-up or deceased (8.3%). Twenty-two of them lived with parents, 25 with guardians and 18 in residential institutions. The primary mode of transmission was perinatal infection (68.1%), followed by sexual (20.8%), blood transfusion (2.9%) and unknown (8.3%). The mean time from HIV exposure to HIV confirmation and AIDS confirmation in mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) cases were 8.0 +/- 2.9 years and 9.6 +/- 3.3 years, respectively. In the multivariate analysis model, age and gender were significant in predicting time from HIV exposure to HIV confirmation.

CONCLUSION
The majority of HIV-positive adolescents reside with parents and guardians and this might indicate support in spite of stigma and discrimination. However; the mean time to HIV confirmation in MTCT cases is quite long and must be reduced.


In this paper, the authors investigate analytically the transformation from the initial guided mode distribution to the stationary state and the effects of the bidimensional roughness profile, in multimode polymeric buried waveguides. In these structures, due to the geometrical dimensions and the operating wavelength, about a thousands of guided modes can propagate, even for weak core/cladding dielectric contrast. The coupling coefficients are computed by exploiting the geometrical features of the optical channels, such as the waveguide dimensions and the roughness surface statistics. The analysis gives insight on the guided/guided and guided/radiated mode interaction, and higher order solution is proposed, in the case of a great number of modes interacting over distances that are extremely long as compared to the signal wavelength and the roughness correlation length. Experimental results are valuated by means of semicontact atomic force microscopy as well as compared with existing numerical models.


In this article, we consider the impact of positive political theory on legislative interpretation and, in particular, the debate over interpretive canons. Our vehicle for this consideration is the appropriations canon. By virtue of this canon, courts construe narrowly legislative changes to statutes made through the appropriations process. We consider the underlying logic and rationale of this canon - essentially, that the appropriations process is unrepresentative and insufficiently deliberative - and use this analysis to investigate, more broadly, the processes of canonical construction in the modern statutory interpretation jurisprudence. Canonical construction, we argue, must be attentive to the equilibrium effects of judicial approaches and, moreover, it must be based upon a normatively compelling theory of lawmaking and the legislative process. The appropriations canon fails both of these tests; and, in its structure, it reveals some of the weaknesses of the contemporary reliance on canons to illuminate statutory meaning.


Krapfia weberbaueri Standl. & J. F. Macbr. is an endemic species from Peru, categorized as vulnerable, and distributed in the departments of Ancash, Huanuco, Junin and San Martin. This work reports the reproductive development of the species under controlled conditions of light and temperature (12 hours light/12 hours darkness, 12 °C during light hrs and 8 °C during dark hrs). Entire plants at reproductive stage were collected at Cordillera Blanca (Ancash), where it is found forming patches, at an elevation of 4200 to 4800 m. The species has large and showy flowers, which from anthesis to the onset of senescence remain responsive, however at a greater extent in the mature flower, stage at which the dehiscence of stamens and release of pollen grains reaches 100%. This period lasts a total of 13 days. Nectar production begins when the flower matures and continues until the total senescence of petals. The viability of the pollen grains varied from 78 to 97% and success in achene production was 38-62%. It may be noted that pollination is favored by the final position of anthers over the stigmas, nectar production, moderate presence and movement of mites and aphids, and the pendulous position of the flower.


Background Probiotics appear to be beneficial in inflammatory bowel disease, but their mechanism of action is incompletely understood. We investigated whether probiotic-derived sphingomyelinase mediates this beneficial effect. Methodology/Principal Findings Neutral sphingomyelinase (NSMase) activity was measured in sonicates of the probiotic L. brevis (LB) and S. thermophilus (ST) and the non-probiotic E. coli (EC) and E. faecalis (EF). Lamina propria mononuclear cells (LPMC) were obtained from patients with Crohn's disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC), and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from healthy volunteers, analysing LPMC and PBMC apoptosis susceptibility, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and JNK activation. In some experiments, sonicates were preincubated with GSH or GW4869, a specific NSMase inhibitor. NSMase activity of LB and ST was 10-fold that of EC and EF sonicates. LB and ST sonicates induced significantly more apoptosis of CD and UC than control LPMC, whereas EC and EF sonicates failed to induce apoptosis. Pre-stimulation with anti-CD3/CD28 induced a significant and time-dependent increase in LB-induced apoptosis of LPMC and PBMC. Exposure to LB sonicates resulted in JNK activation and ROS production by LPMC. NSMase activity of LB sonicates was completely abrogated by GW4869, causing a dose-dependent reduction of LB-induced apoptosis. LB and ST selectively induced immune cell apoptosis, an effect dependent on the degree of cell activation and mediated by bacterial NSMase. Conclusions These results suggest that induction of immune cell apoptosis is a mechanism of action of some probiotics, and that NSMase-mediated ceramide generation contributes to the therapeutic effects of probiotics.


Modern, urban population centres are comprised of highly interdependent networks of infrastructures. In normal operating conditions, these interdependencies can be neglected without much trouble, however, in times of emergency, these same interdependencies, often hidden, can debilitate relief efforts. The effects are often noted in disaster response post-mortems as poor distribution of resources and previously unseen vulnerabilities in the system. The infrastructure interdependencies simulator (I2Sim) was developed for the purpose of aiding decision makers in taking these interdependencies into account both in pre-planning and real time decision coordination. However, the number of infrastructures that require modelling can make simulations unwieldy. This paper presents methods for reducing the complexity of simulation by infrastructure aggregation. Statistical methods are outlined for defining the parameters of aggregated blocks and major issues encountered in the process of model reduction are outlined.


This paper explains how visual representations of data enable individual sensemaking in data exploration tasks. We build upon theories of human perception and cognition, including Cognitive Fit Theory, to explain what aspects of visual representations facilitate sensemaking for the viewer. We make three primary contributions. First, we give a general characterization of visual representations that would be used for data exploration tasks. These representations consist of a scene, objects within the scene, and the characteristics of those objects. Second, we extend Cognitive Fit Theory into the data exploration task domain. We explain that the data exploration task has a number of spatial subtasks including observing data points, looking for patterns or outliers, making inferences, comparing observed facts or patterns to one's own knowledge, generating hypotheses about the data, and drawing analogies from the context being observed to another context. Third, we offer a set of theoretical propositions about how visual representations of data can serve the sensemaking goal. Specifically, visual representations best facilitate sensemaking in data exploration tasks when they (1) support the four basic human visual perceptual approaches of association, differentiation, ordered perception, and quantitative perception, (2) have strong Gestalt properties, (3) are consistent with the viewer's stored knowledge, and (4) support analogical reasoning. We propose that visual representations should possess several of these four aspects to make them well-suited for the task of data exploration.


Excess nitrogen (N) is a primary driver of freshwater and coastal eutrophication globally, and urban stormwater is a rapidly growing source of N pollution. Stormwater best management practices (BMPs) are used widely to remove excess N from runoff in urban and suburban areas, and are expected to perform under a wide variety of environmental conditions. Yet the capacity of BMPs to retain excess N varies; and both the variation and the drivers thereof are largely unknown, hindering the ability of water resource managers to meet water quality targets in a cost-effective way. Here, we use structured expert judgment (SEJ), a performance-weighted method of expert elicitation, to quantify the uncertainty in BMP performance under a range of site-specific environmental conditions and to estimate the extent to which key environmental factors influence variation in BMP performance. We hypothesized that rain event frequency and magnitude, BMP type and size, and physiographic province would significantly influence the experts' estimates of N retention by BMPs common to suburban Piedmont and Coastal Plain watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay region. Expert knowledge indicated wide uncertainty in BMP performance, with N removal efficiencies ranging from 40%. Experts believed that the amount of rain was the primary identifiable source of variability in BMP efficiency, which is relevant given climate projections of more frequent heavy rain events in the mid-Atlantic. To assess the extent to which those projected changes might alter N export from suburban BMPs and watersheds, we combined downscaled estimates of rainfall with distributions of N loads for different-sized rain events derived from our elicitation. The model predicted higher and more variable N loads under a projected future climate regime, suggesting that current BMP regulations for reducing nutrients may be inadequate in the future.


Eber and Neal address some of the theoretical issues connected with symbolic constructions of reality through human memory and its subsequent representation. Linkages between what we remember and how we represent it give humans their distinctive characteristics. We construct our reality from how we perceive the events in our lives and, from that reality, we create a symbol system to describe our world. It is through such symbolic constructions that we are provided with a usable backdrop for shaping our memories and organizing them into meaningful lines of action. These case studies present a new and creative synthesis of the multiple meanings of memory and representation within the context of contemporary perceptions of truth."


Social thinkers frequently remind us that people differ in their views on what constitutes personal well-being, but that even when they don't differ, they disagree over the extent to which one person's well-being can be permitted to be traded off against another's. In this paper I show, by offering an account of the development of development economics, that in professional debates on social policy, economists speak or write as though they agree on values but differ on their reading of facts. A number of ethicists have concluded from this near-exclusive interest in facts that modern economics must be an ethical desert. It is shown here that the reason research economists analyze facts rather than values is that modern economics is built on broad ethical foundations, capable of being reduced as special cases to the various ethical theories that are currently on offer. Ethics has taken a back seat in modern economics not because contemporary economists are wedded to a "value-free" enterprise, but because the ethical foundations of the subject were constructed over five decades ago and are now regarded to be a settled matter.


The colonial heritage of high land inequality in Latin American countries is still, after nearly two centuries of independence, one of the crucial underpinnings of its persistent high levels of income inequality. This paper assesses the colonial strategy of land redistribution in a global comparative perspective using new and existing land inequality figures in an OLS regression framework. The two central questions addressed are 1) what explains the cross-country variation in land inequality at the end of the colonial age? 2) how does initial land inequality relate to current income inequality? The main conclusions of the paper are that geography and factor endowments play a less decisive role than often argued in literature. And second, controlling for regional fixed effects, initial land inequality explains a substantial part of the present cross-country variation in current income inequality.


OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to define changes in aneurysm volume after endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm.

METHODS
A total of 154 consecutive patients who underwent endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysm with the Medtronic AneuRx stent graft at Stanford University Hospital were evaluated. During a mean follow-up period of 15.8 +/- 11.3 months, serial computerized measurements of aneurysm volume and orthogonal maximal diameter were performed on helical computed tomographic scan data sets and maximal transverse diameter was measured manually from transverse computed tomographic images. Aortoiliac length (renal to hypogastric artery origin) was measured along the median luminal centerline and along the straight line.

RESULTS
Aneurysm volume increased immediately after endovascular repair (from 180.2 +/- 69.9 mL to 187.9 +/- 71.6 mL; P <.001), but orthogonal and transverse diameter and aortoiliac length did not change significantly. During the follow-up period, mean volume decreased to 171.9 +/- 70.2 mL (P <.05) and straight-line and centerline aortoiliac length remained unchanged from preoperative values. Overall, volume decreased at a rate of 1.7 +/- 5.9 mL/mo (P <.001). During periods without endoleak, the rate of decrease was 3.2 +/- 5.5 mL/mo (P <.001), and during periods with endoleak, aneurysm volume increased at a rate of 2.0 +/- 5.3 mL/mo (P <.005), without a difference between types of endoleak. Predictive values for the presence of endoleak were similar for transverse and orthogonal diameter and volume. Logistic regression analysis showed volume to be most closely associated with the presence of endoleak.

CONCLUSION
Aneurysm volume increases immediately after endovascular repair. After repair, aneurysm volume gradually decreases and aortoiliac length remains unchanged. Changes in volume parallel changes in maximal aneurysm diameter, and their association with the presence of an endoleak does not appear to be appreciably stronger.


AbstractVery little is known about the pathogenesis of orthostatic tremor (OT). We have observed that OT patients might have deficits in specific aspects of neuropsychological function, particularly those thought to rely on the integrity of the prefrontal cortex, which suggests a possible involvement of frontocerebellar circuits. We examined whether resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) might provide further insights into the pathogenesis on OT. Resting-state fMRI data in 13 OT patients (11 women and 2 men) and 13 matched healthy controls were analyzed using independent component analysis, in combination with a "dual-regression" technique, to identify group differences in several resting-state networks (RSNs). All participants also underwent neuropsychological testing during the same session. Relative to healthy controls, OT patients showed increased connectivity in RSNs involved in cognitive processes (default mode network [DMN] and frontoparietal networks), and decreased connectivity in the cerebellum and sensorimotor networks. Changes in network integrity were associated not only with duration (DMN and medial visual network), but also with cognitive function. Moreover, in at least 2 networks (DMN and medial visual network), increased connectivity was associated with worse performance on different cognitive domains (attention, executive function, visuospatial ability, visual memory, and language). In this exploratory study, we observed selective impairments of RSNs in OT patients. This and other future resting-state fMRI studies might provide a novel method to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms of motor and nonmotor features of OT.


The growth of sustainable energy requires many components to work in harmony creating one efficient and effective system. Sustainable energy generation that produces a DC current varying in voltage requires a subsystem to convert voltage to a practical and usable value. The DC to DC Buck converter converts high DC solar generated voltage to a 12V output. This Modular -Level power electronic (MLPE) device performs as a solar charge controller for small lithium ion batteries. Fluctuating voltage levels generated by Photovoltaic cells makes the solar controller a critical part of the solar system. Regulating the DC voltage allows safe and effective battery changing. The converter uses Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) to improve efficiency and longevity of the battery system [8]. The DC to DC converter receives 12V to 40V at a maximum of 1 amperes typical of portable solar applications. The step-down converter designed at the transistor and integrated circuit level uses PWM supplying constant voltage [3]. PWM controls switches (transistors) that enables or disables current flow via digital signals to control the step-down process. Inductors enable energy conservation in the circuit during on/off cycles. The size of the inductor determines the effectiveness and efficiency. The converter's battery charging responsibility contains the most important performance criteria. Designed for charging lithium ion 18650 cells, this converter connects to compatible lithium ion charging stations. Development of the buck converter focuses on efficiency, magnetic design and voltage regulation. The project focuses less on charging cycles for the cells that charging docks handle.


NGOs set out to save lives, relieve suffering, and service basic human needs. They are committed to serving people across national borders and without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, or religion, and they offer crucial help during earthquakes, tsunamis, wars, and pandemics. But with so many ailing areas in need of assistance, how do these organizations decide where to go—and who gets the aid? In The Good Project , Monika Krause dives into the intricacies of the decision-making process at NGOs and uncovers a basic truth: It may be the case that relief agencies try to help people but, in practical terms, the main focus of their work is to produce projects. Agencies sell projects to key institutional donors, and in the process the project and its beneficiaries become commodities. In an effort to guarantee a successful project, organizations are incentivized to help those who are easy to help, while those who are hardest to help often receive no assistance at all. The poorest of the world are made to compete against each other to become projects—and in exchange they offer legitimacy to aid agencies and donor governments. Sure to be controversial, The Good Project offers a provocative new perspective on how NGOs succeed and fail on a local and global level.


The gut brain axis (GBA) is a bi-directional communication system between the gastrointestinal tract (GI) and the brain. Correct functioning of the GBA is essential to human health and its dysfunction has been widely implicated in a variety of diseases including, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Parkinson's disease (PD), anxiety, depression, and more recently Alzheimer's disease (AD). Pathological changes associated with GBA dysfunction include: increased permeability of the epithelial gut barrier, localised and systemic inflammation, increased permeability of the blood brain barrier (BBB), insulin resistance and alterations in the production of microbial metabolites. In our laboratory, we utilised the APP/PS1 transgenic mouse as a model for cerebral amyloidosis in the brain. These mice overproduce β-amyloid (Aβ), allowing the study of mechanisms of neuropathology. In this project we used seven and fifteen-month mice as a representation of early and late Aβ plaque deposition. Histological examination of tissue architecture in addition to goblet cell and enteroendocrine cell (EEC) counts were performed. Mucosal and luminal bacterial community profiling was assessed through quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) and denaturing gel gradient electrophoresis (DGGE). There was a significant decrease in the phylum Firmicutes and number of EEC's in the colon of seven-month APP/PS1 mice compared to WT littermates. By fifteen-months the dysbiosis had recovered, however there was a decrease in goblet cells in the villi and crypts of the ileum. A three-month age group was introduced which was found to have a significant difference in the mucosal- associated microbiota in the caecum of APP/PS1 mice. The dysbiosis was accompanied by a significant decrease in crypt depth and an increase in EEC numbers in the colon. The results suggest that dysbiosis in the large intestine occurs in early neuropathology and is normalised by late AD pathology. We propose that dysbiosis induces changes in the tissue architecture and cell population numbers during the progression of pathology, which exacerbates GBA dysfunction. The potential for this research lies with the possibility of identifying an AD microbiota profile, which could make it possible to identify high-risk individuals by comparing profiles. Altering the microbiota through the use of probiotics or changing certain lifestyle factors such as adopting a Mediterranean diet, may reduce the likelihood of a high-risk person developing or slow down the progression of AD.


Semantic web has grown into a mature field of research. Its methods find innovative applications on and off the world wide web. Its underlying technologies have significant impact on adjacent fields of research and on industrial applications. This new book series reports on the state-of-the-art in foundations, methods, and applications of semantic web and its underlying technologies. It is a central forum for the communication of recent developments and comprises research monographs, textbooks and edited volumes on all topics related to the semantic web. In this first volume several non-monotonic extensions to description logics (DLs) are investigated, namely auto-epistemic DLs, circumscriptive DLs and terminological default rules, all of which extend standard DL inference mechanisms by forms of closed-world and default reasoning associated to common-sense features. A matchmaking framework is established for semantic resource descriptions formulated in the DL formalism that uses various DL inferences to judge resource compatibility. Special emphasis lies on mapping the technical formalities of model-theoretic semantics of DLs to more intuitive notions that abstract from the details of logic for the frameworks easier adoption in applications. The particular contributions of Semantic Matchmaking with Nonmonotonic Description Logics span the fields of non-monotonic reasoning with description logics in artificial intelligence, matchmaking of ontology-based descriptions and semantic web service discovery. A novel tableaux calculus for reasoning in circumscriptive DLs is introduced and it is demonstrated how the various nonmonotonic extensions to description logics can be used to realize common-sense features and local closed-world reasoning in a semantic web setting in general.IOS Press is an international science, technical and medical publisher of high-quality books for academics, scientists, and professionals in all fields. Some of the areas we publish in: -Biomedicine -Oncology -Artificial intelligence -Databases and information systems -Maritime engineering -Nanotechnology -Geoengineering -All aspects of physics -E-governance -E-commerce -The knowledge economy -Urban studies -Arms control -Understanding and responding to terrorism -Medical informatics -Computer Sciences


A subsurface injection experiment was conducted on the USDOE's Savannah River Site (SRS) to determine the influence of pump‐and‐treat remediation activities on the generation and transport of groundwater colloids. The impact of colloid generation on formation permeability at injection rates ranging from 19 to 132 L min−1 was monitored using a set of six sampling wells radially spaced at approximate distances of 2.0, 3.0, and 4.5 m from a central injection well. Each sampling well was further divided into three discrete sampling depths that were pumped continuously at a rate of ∼0.1 L min−1 throughout the course of the injection experiment. Discrete samples were collected for turbidity and chemical analysis. Turbidity varied greatly between sampling wells and zones within a given well, ranging from <1 to 740 NTU. The two sampling wells closest to the injection well displayed the greatest response in terms of turbidity to increases in injection rate. Transient spikes in turbidity generally corresponded to incremental increases in the injection rate that were followed by a decrease in turbidity to a stable injection rate–dependent level. Mineralogical analysis of the resulting suspensions confirmed the presence of kaolinite, goethite, and to a much lesser degree, quartz and illite, with many of the particles too large (>1 μm) to be readily mobile within the formation. Turbidity measurements taken during this study indicate that colloid mobilization induced by water injection was both spatially and temporally heterogeneous. Furthermore, colloid release did not follow simple predictions based on shear force, presumably due to the complexities encountered in real heterogeneous systems. These findings have important implications to our understanding of how colloids and the co‐contaminants are mobilized in the subsurface environment, as well as for the development of monitoring practices that minimize the creation of colloidal artifacts. Technical and logistical obstacles encountered in conducting such an extensive field experiment are also discussed.


In 1992 the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) convened a panel of prominent social scientists to assess the reliability of natural resource damage estimates derived from contingent valuation (CV). The product of the panel's deliberations was a report that laid out a set of recommended guidelines for CV survey design, administration, and data analysis. This paper focuses on one of these guidelines -- the Panel's call for the "temporal averaging" of willingness-to-pay (WTP) responses obtained from CV surveys as one method for increasing their reliability. The panel suggested: "Time dependent measurement noise should be reduced by averaging across independently drawn samples taken at different points in time. A clear and substantial time trend in the responses would cast doubt on the 'reliability' of the finding." The purpose of this paper is to examine the temporal reliability of CV estimates. Our findings, using a CV instrument designed to measure willingness-to-pay for a program to protect Prince William Sound, Alaska from future oil spills, like the Exxon Valdez spill, exhibited no significant sensitivity to the timing of the interviews. For two samples involving independent interviews taken over two years apart, the distribution of respondents' choices "for" and "against" the protection program did not differ.


Kripke's theory of truth offered a trivalent semantics for a language which, like English, contains a truth predicate and means of self-reference; but it did so by severely restricting the expressive power of the logic. In Kripke's analysis, the Liar (e.g., This very sentence is not true) receives the indeterminate truth value, but this fact cannot be expressed in the language; by contrast, it is straightforward to say in English that the Liar is something other than true. Kripke's theory also fails to handle the Strengthened Liar, which can be expressed in English as: This very sentence is something other than true. We develop a theory which seeks to overcome these difficulties, and is based on a detailed analysis of some of the linguistic means by which the Strengthened Liar can be expressed in English. In particular, we propose to take literally the quantificational form of the negative expression something other than true. Like other quantifiers, it may have different implicit domain restrictions, which give rise to a variety of negations of different strengths (e.g., something other than true among the values {0, 1}, or among {0, 1, 2}, etc). This analysis naturally leads to a logic with as many truth values as there are ordinals—a conclusion reached independently by Cook (2008a). We develop the theory within a generalization of the Strong Kleene Logic, augmented with negations that each have a nonmonotonic semantics. We show that fixed points can be constructed for our logic, and that it enjoys a limited form of 'expressive completeness'. Finally, we discuss the relation between our theory and various alternatives, including one in which the word true (rather than negation) is semantically ambiguous, and gives rise to a hierarchy of truth predicates of increasing strength.


The rate of lexical replacement estimates the diachronic stability of word forms on the basis of how frequently a proto-language word is replaced or retained in its daughter languages. Lexical replacement rate has been shown to be highly related to word class and word frequency. In this paper, we argue that content words and function words behave differently with respect to lexical replacement rate, and we show that semantic factors predict the lexical replacement rate of content words. For the 167 content items in the Swadesh list, data was gathered on the features of lexical replacement rate, word class, frequency, age of acquisition, synonyms, arousal, imageability and average mutual information, either from published databases or gathered from corpora and lexica. A linear regression model shows that, in addition to frequency, synonyms, senses and imageability are significantly related to the lexical replacement rate of content words–in particular the number of synonyms that a word has. The model shows no differences in lexical replacement rate between word classes, and outperforms a model with word class and word frequency predictors only.


We propose a kernel-based method for finding matching between instances across different domains, such as multilingual documents and images with annotations. Each instance is assumed to be represented as a multiset of features, e.g., a bag-of-words representation for documents. The major difficulty in finding cross-domain relationships is that the similarity between instances in different domains cannot be directly measured. To overcome this difficulty, the proposed method embeds all the features of different domains in a shared latent space, and regards each instance as a distribution of its own features in the shared latent space. To represent the distributions efficiently and nonparametrically, we employ the framework of the kernel embeddings of distributions. The embedding is estimated so as to minimize the difference between distributions of paired instances while keeping unpaired instances apart. In our experiments, we show that the proposed method can achieve high performance on finding correspondence between multi-lingual Wikipedia articles, between documents and tags, and between images and tags.


Eight in ten female readymade garment (RMG) workers in Bangladesh suffer from anemia, a condition which damages both health and productivity. This study evaluated the effectiveness of a workplace nutrition program on anemia reduction in female RMG workers of Bangladesh. A quasi-experimental mixed method study was conducted on 1310 non-pregnant female RMG workers from four factories. Two types of intervention packages (A and C) were tested against their respective controls (B and D) over a 10-month period. Among factories that already provided lunch to workers with regular behavior change counseling (BCC), one intervention (A) and one control (B) factory were selected, and among factories that did not provide lunches to their workers but provided regular BCC, one intervention (C) and one control (D) factory were selected: (A) Lunch meal intervention package: daily nutritionally-enhanced (with fortified rice) hot lunch, once weekly iron-folic acid (IFA) supplement and monthly enhanced (with nutrition module) behavior change counseling (BCC) versus (B) Lunch meal control package: regular lunch and BCC; and (C) Non-meal intervention package: twice-weekly IFA and enhanced BCC versus (D) Non-meal control package: BCC alone. Body weight and capillary hemoglobin were measured. Changes in anemia prevalence were estimated by difference-in-difference (DID) method. Thematic analysis of qualitative in-depth interviews with RMG workers was performed and findings were triangulated. Anemia was reduced significantly in both lunch meal and non-meal intervention (A and C) group (DID: 32 and 12 percentage points, p: <0.001 and <0.05 respectively). The mean hemoglobin concentration also significantly increased by 1 gm/dL and 0.4 gm/dL in both A and C group (p: <0.001 respectively). Weight did not change in the intervention groups (A and C) but significantly increased by more than 1.5 kg in the comparison groups (B and D). The knowledge of different vitamin and mineral containing foods and their benefits was increased significantly among all participants. Workplace nutrition programs can reduce anemia in female RMG workers, with the greatest benefits observed when both nutritionally enhanced lunches and IFA supplements are provided.


This paper is interested in confession as a narrative mode of media, specifically gay independent films, and the specific codes and mechanisms inherent in a confession that enable one to generate pity over the viewing public. I would discuss four gay indie films, Ang Lalaki sa Parola, Daybreak, Sagwan, and Selda, and look specifically at how these films use confession in their narration, as a cinematic style to develop their characters, and ultimately as a form of politics of viewing by which gay films in general become a sort of "public confession" constituting their viewers as their preferred "confessors." Such understanding of confession as a narrative mode therefore will have a bearing on the notion of "independence" in gay indie films—in particular, how these films advance the cause of being "independent" from mainstream films oftentimes characterized as commercial and lacking in artistic merits. My point is that confession as a narrative mode is still not enough and what is considered as a "gay indie" can ultimately be contained within the culture of homophobia caused by the uneven relations of power between these films and their target audience.


Paraneoplastic neurological syndromes can be associated with the presence of onconeural antibodies. These antibodies are the result of an immune response against a tumour that is ectopically expressing a neuronal antigen. The 'classical' onconeural antibodies (anti-Hu, Yo, Ma2, CRMP-5, amphiphysin and Ri) are directed against intracellular antigens and are strongly associated with underlying malignancy. By contrast, onconeural antibodies directed against cell surface antigens (eg, anti-NMDA, VGKC, AChR) have a weaker tumour association. This article gives a practical overview of the tumour associations, and the neurological associations, of the onconeural antibodies. There is also guidance on how to investigate occult malignancy in antibody positive cases.


Mining of periodic patterns in time-series databases is an interesting data mining problem. It can be envisioned as a tool for forecasting and prediction of the future behavior of time-series data. Incremental mining refers to the issue of maintaining the discovered patterns over time in the presence of more items being added into the database. Because of the mostly append only nature of updating time-series data, incremental mining would be very effective and efficient. Several algorithms for incremental mining of partial periodic patterns in time-series databases are proposed and are analyzed empirically. The new algorithms allow for online adaptation of the thresholds in order to produce interactive mining of partial periodic patterns. The storage overhead of the incremental online mining algorithms is analyzed. Results show that the storage overhead for storing the intermediate data structures pays off as the incremental online mining of partial periodic patterns proves to be significantly more efficient than the nonincremental nononline versions. Moreover, a new problem, termed merge mining, is introduced as a generalization of incremental mining. Merge mining can be defined as merging the discovered patterns of two or more databases that are mined independently of each other. An algorithm for merge mining of partial periodic patterns in time-series databases is proposed and analyzed.


This paper presents an evaluation of a new biometric electrocardiogram (ECG) for individual authentication. We report the potential of ECG as a biometric and address the research concerns to use ECG-enabled biometric authentication system across a range of conditions. We present a method to delineate ECG waveforms and their end fiducials from each heartbeat. A new authentication strategy is proposed in this work, which uses the delineated features and taking decision for the identity of an individual with respect to the template database on the basis of match scores. Performance of the system is evaluated in a unimodal framework and in the multibiometric framework where ECG is combined with the face biometric and with the fingerprint biometric. The equal error rate (EER) result of the unimodal system is reported to 10.8%, while the EER results of the multibiometric systems are reported to 3.02% and 1.52%, respectively for the systems when ECG combined with the face biometric and ECG combined with the fingerprint biometric. The EER results of the combined systems prove that the ECG has an excellent source of supplementary information to a multibiometric system, despite it shows moderate performance in a unimodal framework. We critically evaluate the concerns involved to use ECG as a biometric for individual authentication such as, the lack of standardization of signal features and the presence of acquisition variations that make the data representation more difficult. In order to determine large scale performance, individuality of ECG remains to be examined.


Microalgae are at the start of the food chain, and many are known producers of a significant amount of lipids with essential fatty acids. However, the bioactivity of microalgal lipids for anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic activities have rarely been investigated. Therefore, for a sustainable source of the above bioactive lipids, the present study was undertaken. The total lipids of microalga Chlorococcum sp., isolated from the Irish coast, were fractionated into neutral-, glyco-, and phospho-lipids, and were tested in vitro for their anti-inflammatory and antithrombotic activities. All tested lipid fractions showed strong anti-platelet-activating factor (PAF) and antithrombin activities in human platelets (half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values ranging ~25–200 μg of lipid) with the highest activities in glyco- and phospho-lipid fractions. The structural analysis of the bioactive lipid fraction-2 revealed the presence of specific sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerols (SQDG) bioactive molecules and the HexCer-t36:2 (t18:1/18:1 and 18:2/18:0) cerebrosides with a phytosphingosine (4-hydrosphinganine) base, while fraction-3 contained bioactive phosphatidylcholine (PC) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) molecules. These novel bioactive lipids of Chlorococcum sp. with putative health benefits may indicate that marine microalgae can be a sustainable alternative source for bioactive lipids production for food supplements and nutraceutical applications. However, further studies are required towards the commercial technology pathways development and biosafety analysis for the use of the microalga.


Objective To assess the efficacy of an intervention designed to improve the mother-infant relationship and security of infant attachment in a South African peri-urban settlement with marked adverse socioeconomic circumstances. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting Khayelitsha, a peri-urban settlement in South Africa. Participants 449 pregnant women. Interventions The intervention was delivered from late pregnancy and for six months postpartum. Women were visited in their homes by previously untrained lay community workers who provided support and guidance in parenting. The purpose of the intervention was to promote sensitive and responsive parenting and secure infant attachment to the mother. Women in the control group received no therapeutic input from the research team. Main outcome measures Primary outcomes: quality of mother-infant interactions at six and 12 months postpartum; infant attachment security at 18 months. Secondary outcome: maternal depression at six and 12 months. Results The intervention was associated with significant benefit to the mother-infant relationship. At both six and 12 months, compared with control mothers, mothers in the intervention group were significantly more sensitive (6 months: mean difference=0.77 (SD 0.37), t=2.10, P<0.05, d=0.24; 12 months: mean difference=0.42 (0.18), t=−2.04 , P<0.05, d=0.26) and less intrusive (6 months: mean difference=0.68 (0.36), t=2.28, P<0.05, d=0.26; 12 months: mean difference=−1.76 (0.86), t=2.28 , P<0.05, d=0.24) in their interactions with their infants. The intervention was also associated with a higher rate of secure infant attachments at 18 months (116/156 (74%) v 102/162 (63%); Wald=4.74, odds ratio=1.70, P<0.05). Although the prevalence of maternal depressive disorder was not significantly reduced, the intervention had a benefit in terms of maternal depressed mood at six months (z=2.05, P=0.04) on the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale). Conclusions The intervention, delivered by local lay women, had a significant positive impact on the quality of the mother-infant relationship and on security of infant attachment, factors known to predict favourable child development. If these effects persist, and if they are replicated, this intervention holds considerable promise for use in the developing world. Trial registration Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN25664149.


A simple and compact slot antenna with a very wide tuning range is proposed. A 25 mm (roughly equal to λH/8, where λH corresponds to the highest frequency of the tuning range) open slot is etched at the edge of the ground. To achieve the tunability, only two lumped elements, namely, a PIN diode and a varactor diode are used in the structure. By switching the PIN diode placed at the open end of the slot, the slot antenna can resonate as a standard slot (when the switch is on) or a half slot (when the switch is off). Continuous tuning over a wide frequency range in those two modes can be achieved by adjusting the reverse bias (giving different capacitances) of the varactor diode loaded in the slot. Through optimal design, the tuning bands of the two modes are stitched together to form a very wide tuning range. The fabricated prototype has a tuning frequency range from 0.42 GHz to 1.48 GHz with Sll better than -10 dB, giving a frequency ratio (fR = fu/fL) of 3.52:1. The measured full spherical radiation patterns show consistent radiation characteristics of the proposed antenna within the whole tuning range.


Ground wedge structures of cryogenic origin are common in the Quaternary sediments along the coast of the Patagonia, and their formation is related to climatic cold events experienced by this area in the Late Quaternary. The infilling sediments of two wedges generations were analyzed in the area of Puerto Deseado. Bulk chemistry (major elements), X-ray diffraction (XRD), morphoscopic observations with Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) and chemical analyses of volcanic glass shards were undertaken to provide indications about infilling sediment provenience, along with chronological constraint for wedge formation. Bulk chemistry and XRD patterns indicate a significant SiO2-enriched composition of the sediment infilling compared to the most of the loess deposits of the North Argentina and the present day dust originated in Patagonia. This was interpreted as due to the nature of the bedrock present over the Deseado Massif. SEM morphoscopic characteristics of glass shards evidence typical aeolian reworking features, with impact structures and indented edges of the volcanic fragments. Chemical analyses of the glass shards indicate that they were probably generated by the H0 eruption (17,300-17,400 cal yr BP) of the Hudson volcano. Volcanological data indicate that H0 eruption dispersed toward NE, but volcanic glasses were available for reworking due to a WNW component in the western wind direction. Over the Deseado Massif structural high the glass shards mixed with sediments enriched in SiO2, and were eventually deflated further to SE reaching the present coastal area and infilling the frost cracks. The age of the glass shards (17,300-17,400 cal yr BP) and that of the sandy layer affected by cryogenic structures (14,670±750 yr BP) well constrain to the Late Glacial both wedge generations.


Jacob Katz here presents a major reinterpretation of modern anti-Semitism, which blends history of ideas about the Jews gradually became transformed and then, around 1879, picked up so much social force as to result in the premeditated and systematic destruction of the Jewish people of Europe. Mr. Katz revises the prevalent thesis that medieval and modern animosities against Jews were fundamentally different. He also rejects the scapegoat theory, according to which the Jews were merely a lightning rod for underlying economic and social tensions. On the contrary, he argues, there were very real tensions between Jews and non-Jews, because the Jews were a highly visible and cohesive group and so came into conflict with non-Jews in competing for social and economic rewards. In the late 19th century, Mr. Katz argues, hatred of the Jews shifted from their religion to more essential aspects of their character and behavior. The term anti-Semitism, he explains, which first came into use around 1870, was meant to describe this change. Thus, ironically, just as Jews were being integrated into the political state, skillfull propagandists such as Theodore Fritzche and Houston Stewart Chamberlain were extraordinarily successful in spreading notions of Jewish racial inferority and its threat to the pure Aryan stock. And so when Hitler came on the scene, the seeds of Jewish race hatred were widely sown.


Asthma is among the most common of all chronic disorders at all ages. Despite increased understanding of cell biology and access to numerous drugs and inhaler, asthma is not under control. One in six people requiring emergency treatment for asthma will require emergency treatment again within two weeks and, sadly, in the UK one person dies of asthma every seven hours. Modern management of asthma is supported by the rigorously evidence-based BTS/SIGN guidelines which are now are updated annually. There is increasing emphasis on starting inhaled steroid for milder cases and using lower doses, the usual starting adult dose is now 400 ug BDP or equivalent. Education using a written personalised Asthma Action Plan is central to good management and should be reinforced at every opportunity. For adults and older children with more troublesome symptoms a LABA is the most effective add-on therapy. Those not controlled at Step 3 should be considered for referral to a specialist hospital clinic.