BACKGROUND
Breathing exercises for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) aim to alter respiratory muscle recruitment, improve respiratory muscle performance and reduce dyspnoea. Although some studies have reported positive short-term physiological effects of breathing exercises in people with COPD, their effects on dyspnoea, exercise capacity and well being are unclear.

OBJECTIVES
To determine whether breathing exercises in people with COPD have beneficial effects on dyspnoea, exercise capacity and health-related quality of life compared to no breathing exercises in people with COPD; and to determine whether there are any adverse effects of breathing exercises in people with COPD.

SEARCH METHODS
The Cochrane Airways Group Specialised Register of trials and the PEDro database were searched from inception to October 2011.

SELECTION CRITERIA
We included randomised parallel trials that compared breathing exercises to no breathing exercises or another intervention in people with COPD.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed the risk of bias. Primary outcomes were dyspnoea, exercise capacity and health-related quality of life; secondary outcomes were gas exchange, breathing pattern and adverse events. To determine whether effects varied according to the treatment used, we assessed each breathing technique separately.

MAIN RESULTS
Sixteen studies involving 1233 participants with mean forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) 30% to 51% predicted were included. There was a significant improvement in six-minute walk distance after three months of yoga involving pranayama timed breathing techniques (mean difference to control 45 metres, 95% confidence interval 29 to 61 metres; two studies; 74 participants), with similar improvements in single studies of pursed lip breathing (mean 50 metres; 60 participants) and diaphragmatic breathing (mean 35 metres; 30 participants). Effects on dyspnoea and health-related quality of life were inconsistent across trials. Addition of computerised ventilation feedback to exercise training did not provide additional improvement in dyspnoea-related quality of life (standardised mean difference -0.03; 95% CI -0.43 to 0.49; two studies; 73 participants) and ventilation feedback alone was less effective than exercise training alone for improving exercise endurance (mean difference -15.4 minutes; 95% CI -28.1 to -2.7 minutes; one study; 32 participants). No significant adverse effects were reported. Few studies reported details of allocation concealment, assessor blinding or intention-to-treat analysis.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS
Breathing exercises over four to 15 weeks improve functional exercise capacity in people with COPD compared to no intervention; however, there are no consistent effects on dyspnoea or health-related quality of life. Outcomes were similar across all the breathing exercises examined. Treatment effects for patient-reported outcomes may have been overestimated owing to lack of blinding. Breathing exercises may be useful to improve exercise tolerance in selected individuals with COPD who are unable to undertake exercise training; however, these data do not suggest a widespread role for breathing exercises in the comprehensive management of people with COPD.


Abstract. One of the strongest limiting factors in close range photogrammetry (CRP) is the depth of field (DOF), especially at very small object distance. When using standard digital cameras and lens, for a specific camera – lens combination, the only way to control the extent of the zone of sharp focus in object space is to reduce the aperture of the lens. However, this strategy is often not sufficient; moreover, in many cases it is not fully advisable. In fact, when the aperture is closed down, images lose sharpness because of diffraction. Furthermore, the exposure time must be lowered (susceptibility to vibrations) and the ISO increased (electronic noise may increase). In order to adapt the shape of the DOF to the subject of interest, the Scheimpflug rule is to be applied, requiring that the optical axis must be no longer perpendicular to the image plane. Nowadays, specific lenses exist that allow inclining the optical axis to modify the DOF: they are called tilt-shift lenses. In this paper, an investigation on the applicability of the classic photogrammetric model (pinhole camera coupled with Brown's distortion model) to these lenses is presented. Tests were carried out in an environmentally controlled metrology laboratory at the National Research Council (NRC) Canada and the results are hereafter described in detail.


Identifying the most relevant determinants of water consuming or saving behaviors at the household level is key to building mathematical models that predict urban water demand variability in space and time and to explore the effects of different Water Demand Management Strategies for the residential sector. This work contributes a novel approach based on feature selection and feature weighting to model the single-user consumption behavior at the household level. A two-step procedure consisting of the extraction of the most relevant determinants of users' consumption and the identification of a predictive model of water consumers' profile is proposed and tested on a real case study. Results show the effectiveness of the proposed method in capturing the influence of candidate determinants on residential water consumption, as well as in attaining sufficiently accurate predictions of users' consumption profiles, which constitutes essential information to support residential water demand management


A penetrating study of the images, symbols, pageants, and creative performances ambitious Elizabethans used to secure political power Shakespeare's plays abound with kings and leaders who crave a public stage and seize every opportunity to make their lives a performance: Antony, Cleopatra, Richard III, Othello, and many others. Such self-dramatizing characters appear in the work of other playwrights of the era as well, Marlowe's Edward II and Tamburlaine among them. But Elizabethan playwrights were not alone in realizing that a sense of theater was essential to the exercise of power. Real rulers knew it, too, and none better than Queen Elizabeth. In this fascinating study of political stagecraft in the Elizabethan era, Garry Wills explores a period of vast cultural and political change during which the power of make-believe to make power real was not just a theory but an essential truth. Wills examines English culture as Catholic Christianity's rituals were being overturned and a Protestant queen took the throne. New iconographies of power were necessary for the new Renaissance liturgy to displace the medieval church-state. The author illuminates the extensive imaginative constructions that went into Elizabeth's reign and the explosion of great Tudor and Stuart drama that provided the imaginative power to support her long and successful rule.


The peep-peep-peep from the hallway is not a fluffy chick, under incubator, but some measure of infusion or rhythm holding the line between earth and heaven's reward (so, is earth a punishment?). The hiss of air from the room vents is its accompaniment never skipping a beat, supporting the concerto with soothing constancy. I have been here through far too many movements with not a break for applause. Across the street, Franklin Field stands guard under the overly moist skies. Graduation day. Wet, black gowns marking an end and beginning. The cheering section went home before visiting hours were over. Medicine is as relentless as loneliness. Now, the darkness and I are left to squabble over pointless things.


Abstract The sovereign debt market represents one of the most active and highly regarded fields of financial transaction. Nevertheless, the trading of public debt securities is no natural phenomenon. It is the fruit of a long social and political process. We have chosen the history of France's public finances as the subject of our empirical investigation because France represents a unique example of marketization of state finances outside the capitalist mode of production. We posit that the birth of this market system can be traced back to the introduction of the paulette tax in 1604, a reform which modified the rules governing the granting, valuation and transmission of public offices, creating the necessary conditions for a market on which these titles could be exchanged freely. This paper is based on archival research and information gathered from the French National Archives and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France (BNF). The concept of socio-technical devices proposed by Çalışkan and Callon provides a theoretical reference framework to the extent that it allows us to define the nature of the market relations established. However, the case of the office market brings to the fore the need to distinguish between marketization and the notion of market agencement. The market for offices came about less from economic theories or practices than from political and social ones. The office market followed the sovereignty imperatives of the state.


A new notion of simplicity for recursively enumerable (r.e.) sets is introduced, that of (Z-simplicity or simplicity with respect to arrays of differences of r.e. sets (d.r.e. sets). This notion arose from the method used to generate automorphisms of ^*, the lattice of r.e. sets modulo finite sets, and is a further step toward finding a complete set of invariants for the automorphism types of £f*. The cZsimple sets are closely related to the small sets defined by Lachlan as a key part of his decision procedure for the V3-theory of ^*. Finally, the degrees D of ^-simple sets form a new invariant class of r.e. degrees, since H^D but D splits Li (where JGΓI and Lx are the high and low r.e. degrees respectively). This refutes conjectures of Martin and Shoenfield which imply that degrees C of any class of r.e. sets invariant under automorphisms of & can be characterized by a finite set of equalities or inequalities involving the jump of degrees in C.


Intestinal protozoal infections cause significant disease not only in the tropics but also in immunocompromised hosts and returning travellers in the developed world. Precise diagnosis of protozoal intestinal infection by microscopy can be difficult. Enzyme immunoassays for antigen detection are being used for some protozoal infections with some limitations which will, it is hoped, be overcome by molecular techniques. Nucleic acid amplification techniques could help improve detection of microsporidial species, which are difficult to detect microscopically and allow differentiation between Entamoeba histolytica and Entamoeba dispar. Definitive treatment for Cryptosporidium parvum infection remains elusive but new drugs are being evaluated. Cessation of thiabendazole production should not affect therapy of intestinal nematode infections as potent alternative therapy is available.


On March 10, 2011, Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House of Representatives' Committee on the Judiciary, introduced H.R. 966, the Lawsuit Abuse Reduction Act. On the same day Charles Grassley, the ranking Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sponsored an identical measure in the Upper Chamber. The legislation, which is animated by concern over rising costs and abuses in federal civil cases, stiffens penalties against lawyers who file sanctionable papers in federal court by legislatively amending Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the general certification and sanctions standard for federal civil cases. Aware that the political winds are pointing in LARA's favor, my objective in this short paper is to articulate the strongest arguments against the proposed legislation. This paper expands significantly on prepared testimony I gave by invitation to a subcommittee of the House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary regarding the legislation. My hope is that this work will make a valuable contribution to the public debate regarding this proposed, significant reform of federal practice. Briefly summarized, the paper proceeds as follows. Part I argues that the proposed legislation would not only fail to resolve the problems asserted to justify its passage but would actually increase costs and delays in federal court and foster greater litigation abuse. In Part II, I argue that there is no empirical support for the assertion that the 1993 amendments to Rule 11 can be blamed for whatever problems do exist today with federal civil litigation. Part III makes the case that LARA's passage is not needed because there are many available alternatives for managing federal civil litigation costs and abuses. Finally, in Part IV, I demonstrate that the assertions made by LARA's sponsors regarding the extent of costs and abuse in federal civil litigation are greatly exaggerated. Although this latter argument may have little traction in public debates over the legislation, it may be more effectively invoked in support of the institutional argument that this sort of procedural reform is best considered through the more deliberative Rules Enabling Act process. That is, reasonable legislators may be convinced that judicial rulemakers can be relied upon, as they have been for many years, to monitor the state of civil litigation and to consider reforms of the rules, as necessary, to control litigation costs and abuses.


Cardiovascular diseases could be treated by chaperones that deliver the lipid mediator S1P that promotes endothelial function. Targeting S1P1 on endothelial cells The lipid mediator sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is ferried in the blood by different chaperone proteins, the identity of which determines the specific signaling pathway triggered by S1P binding to its receptor S1P1. When bound to the lipoprotein ApoM+HDL, S1P suppresses endothelial cell inflammation and atherosclerosis. However, globally increasing HDL abundance does not confer these benefits, and ApoM is unstable when not bound to HDL. Swendeman et al. generated a stable form of ApoM (ApoM-Fc) that bound to S1P and activated S1P1 receptors in a sustained manner in endothelial cells. ApoM-Fc–S1P treatment of mice reduced hypertension induced by angiotensin II and improved outcomes after experimentally induced myocardial infarction or stroke, without inducing the lymphopenia characteristic of S1P1 agonists. These results provide proof-of-concept evidence that developing a chaperone that targets S1P to S1P1 selectively on endothelial cells could be used to treat cardiovascular diseases. Endothelial dysfunction, a hallmark of vascular disease, is restored by plasma high-density lipoprotein (HDL). However, a generalized increase in HDL abundance is not beneficial, suggesting that specific HDL species mediate protective effects. Apolipoprotein M–containing HDL (ApoM+HDL), which carries the bioactive lipid sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), promotes endothelial function by activating G protein–coupled S1P receptors. Moreover, HDL-bound S1P is limiting in several inflammatory, metabolic, and vascular diseases. We report the development of a soluble carrier for S1P, ApoM-Fc, which activated S1P receptors in a sustained manner and promoted endothelial function. In contrast, ApoM-Fc did not modulate circulating lymphocyte numbers, suggesting that it specifically activated endothelial S1P receptors. ApoM-Fc administration reduced blood pressure in hypertensive mice, attenuated myocardial damage after ischemia/reperfusion injury, and reduced brain infarct volume in the middle cerebral artery occlusion model of stroke. Our proof-of-concept study suggests that selective and sustained targeting of endothelial S1P receptors by ApoM-Fc could be a viable therapeutic strategy in vascular diseases.


"Construction is a multi-organisation and interactive process. Successful completion of a project therefore depends on the accuracy, effectiveness and timing of communication and exchange of information and data between the supply chain. Unfortunately, the inefficiency of the existing method of communication has become a barrier to several innovative construction processes developed for the industry over the past four decades. Thus, research efforts and direction have since changed. Several studies now focusing on integration of the construction process with communication and standardisation of data exchange, taking advantage of evolving computer technologies. The capability of these technologies, object-oriented technology and the Internet has made a significant impact on other economic sector such as finance, manufacturing, insurance, etc., with significant improvement in performance and productivity.

 Thus the technology is available but the challenge is utilising the technology to develop method of improving the construction process. To ensure efficient utilisation of IT as enabling tools, formalisation and understanding of the construction processes are required. This will enable the identification of the problems and opportunities of the strategy, and its implementation and performance in practice.

 The paper presents a detailed model of pre-construction and construction planning processes, based on an on-going research project, that form the basis of the developed planning system. The detailed process mapping methodology using CASE tools and the associated integration of IT tools, as an enabler to aid and improve the planning process, are described. The system provides an interface for integration of CAD data, using IFC objects, within the system. The application of the system offers a promise of significant improvement in both pre-construction and construction processes."


This thesis has developed an interactive system that uses an evolutionary algorithm incorporating an artificial neural network for improving the aesthetic appeals of design. The artificial neural network allows the system to generalise user preferences by learning the implicit relationship between the evolved design solutions and the user evaluations.
Evolutionary algorithms are usually used as optimizers for searching the best solutions to specific problems by imitating the adaptive processes in nature. These algorithms must, however, rely on predefined objective functions called fitness functions, in order for the system to converge on the optimal solution. The formulation of the fitness functions is a major bottleneck in the application of these algorithms in design domains.
In recent years, evolutionary algorithms have been used in computer aided design systems for generating desirable images or 3D forms. These systems use human subjective evaluations and selections instead of objective fitness functions to control the evolution, and they are referred to as the Interactive Evolutionary Systems (IES). An IES is capable of generating and evolving large numbers of alternative designs as well as finding the optimum design. In an application, a designer is continuously required to interact with the system by making evaluations and selections of the designs that are being generated and displayed on a computer screen.
However, the IES approach involves a process which may become unendurable and exhaustive for several reasons. First the limited size of a computer screen allows only a small number of candidate solutions to be displayed, evaluated and selected by the designer. Second, due to fuzzy nature of aesthetic evaluations, evolution is usually a mutation-driven and divergent process. Third the evolutionary process is time consuming due to limited speed of ratings and interactions. The convergent mechanisms typically found in standard Evolutionary Algorithms are more difficult to achieve with IES. In an IES, optimisation gives way to exploration due to the open ended nature of the algorithms.
To address this problem, the thesis proposes an approach to use a neural network in conjunction with an IES to obtain a smoother, less erratic evaluation function than what would be the direct result of user's individual choices. A designer comes to interact with the evolutionary system and makes evaluations and selections. If the designer's aesthetic preference is consistent, the seemingly erratic user selections may have certain consistency and tendency. The designer's selections are recorded and the artificial neural network is thereby able to approximate implicit correlation between evolving designs and the designer's responses. This allows a canonical evolutionary process to run with much larger population samples to get a good distillation of designs that the designer most likely prefers. This process is called "capturing user intent". The approach supports a design paradigm which consists of iterative cycles of interactive evolution and intent capturing, as the intent of the user may not be exactly captured in a single try.
The neural network for the approximation is a kind of RBF network called General Regression Neural Network (GRNN). The approximation is a regression of aesthetic appeals conditioned on the corresponding designs.
The basic idea for this framework is based on the assumption that learning behaviours exist in design processes. The inductive learning ability of human beings can generate and adapt designs based on past failures and successes, whilst in natural evolution the generation, reproduction and variation are blind processes. Therefore a learning mechanism in an evolutionary design process contributes to the formulation of aesthetic intent of a designer in terms of an approximated fitness function for shortening the tedious and lengthy process of human evaluation and selection involved in an IES. In such an approach, a balance is reached between exploration and optimisation, both of which are essential tasks of design and should be supported by computational power.
The application for the implemented system focuses on parametric tuning activities of design. A prototype system for facial character creation is implemented in order to study the feasibility of the proposed new framework. The implemented system is interactive and it uses genetic algorithms for searching desirable 3D facial surface models. An intuitive interface with easy to use operations provides a basis for testing and evaluating the implemented system.
Several experiments are conducted in order to verify the performances of the system implemented. The outcomes are analyzed and evaluated.


Greedy forwarding is a simple yet efficient technique employed by many routing protocols. It is ideal to realize point-to-point routing in wireless sensor networks because packets can be delivered by only maintaining a small set of neighbors' information regardless of network size. It has been successfully employed by geographic routing, which assumes that a packet can be moved closer to the destination in the network topology if it is forwarded geographically closer to the destination in the physical space. This assumption, however, may lead packets to the local minimum where no neighbors of the sender are closer to the destination or low-quality routes that comprise long distance hops of low packet reception ratio. To address the local minimum problem, we propose a topology aware routing (TAR) protocol that efficiently encodes a network topology into a low-dimensional virtual coordinate space where hop distances between pairwise nodes are preserved. Based on precise hop distance comparison, TAR can assist greedy forwarding to find the right neighbor that is one hop closer to the destination and achieve high success ratio of packet delivery without location information. Further, we improve the routing quality by embedding a network topology based on the metric of expected transmission count (ETX). ETX embedding accurately encodes both a network's topological structure and channel quality to nodes' small size virtual coordinates, which helps greedy forwarding to guide a packet along the optimal path that has the fewest number of transmissions. We evaluate our approaches through both simulations and experiments, showing that routing performance are improved in terms of routing success ratio and routing cost.


Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein or, The Modern Prometheus was first published two hundred years ago on March 11, 1818. Shelley's novel warns of the possible sacrifices for knowledge and hints toward the costs to man and society, how new knowledge can redefine human existence and experience.
These themes of Frankenstein have been reinterpreted and applied to debates regarding atomic weapons, nuclear energy, cloning, bioengineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). This collection brings together CMU scholars in the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences to consider the relevance of Shelley's novel today, particularly how it helps frame the responsibility of investigators to consider the consequences of artificial intelligence and a technologically-augmented human society.


Background : Private health care providers are largely the first point of contact for Tuberculosis (TB) patients, who either undergo treatment from private practitioners or buy medicines on their own from private pharmacies. Aims: This study assessed the availability, sale and magnitude of anti-tuberculosis drugs dispensing through private pharmacies. Methodology : The present cross sectional study was conducted among private pharmacies located along the national highway from Thalassery to Payyannur in the Kannur district of Kerala, India. A total of 38 private pharmacies located along the national highway were included. Results : The duration that anti–TB drugs had been on sale showed that 74.3% of pharmacies had started to sell these drugs only less than ten years ago. The majority (82.9%) of the private pharmacies received up to 5 prescriptions for anti-TB drugs weekly. Out of the total of 35 pharmacies selling these drugs, 22 (62.9%) reported an increase in their sales. Nearly 82% of those pharmacies that reported an increase in the sale of anti-TB drugs were selling these drugs for less than the past ten years. Conclusions : The current study shows that a large number of tuberculosis patients are still approaching private pharmacies for anti-tuberculosis drugs. This tendency has to be completely stopped and needs properly planned strategies to encourage private pharmacies to participate actively in the DOTS (Direct Observation Treatment Short course) program of the Government, by providing them attractive alternative incentives


Effects of Climate Nonstationarity on Low-Flow Models for Southern New England Benjamin J. Daniels Advisor: Dr. Noah Snyder Increasing attention has been drawn to the need for reliable streamflow estimates at ungaged locations under a range of climatic and hydrologic conditions. Climate projections for the northeastern United States over the 21 century—which include significant increases in temperature and precipitation—could have broad impacts on streamflows, potentially reducing the accuracies of existing streamflow models for the region. This thesis investigates recent changes in daily flow-durations in southern New England, and examines their influence on the reliability of the low-flow models for Massachusetts presented by Ries and Friesz (2000). An analysis of discharge data collected at gaging sites through water year 2012 revealed increases in nearly all flow durations at sites across southern New England since the mid-20 century, whereas very low flows (quantiles at or above the 95-percent exceedance probability) generally showed decreases, especially since the 1990s. Twenty-year moving streamflow quantiles at each of ten selected exceedance probabilities were examined for the periods of record of 16 streamflow-gaging stations in southern New England. The beginning of water year 1992 appeared to mark an inflection point in low-flow quantiles, before which very low flows were steady or increasing, and after which these flows showed near-universal decreases. While the observed peak in 20-year low-flow quantiles around 1992 may be due to the statistical method used to calculate the quantile trends, the inflection point could also be an indicator of when increasing evapotranspiration surpassed increasing precipitation as the principal climatic driver of changes in low flows in southern New England. The general upward translation of the flow-duration curve observed over the last 60 years is very likely linked to increases in annual precipitation during this period, while the decreases in very low flows are likely due to changes in climatic variables (increasing summer temperatures and evapotranspiration rates), and amplified by anthropogenic factors (greater areas of impervious surfaces and increasing rates of surfaceand ground-water withdrawal). The data suggest that increasing precipitation rates have already caused the Ries and Friesz (2000) equations for the median low flows (Q50 to Q75) to become biased towards underestimation, and decreases in very low flows threaten to render the models for these flows biased towards overestimation in the coming decades. The streamflow quantile trends (for both the entire period of record of the gaging stations and just the post-1992 period) for each of the ten flow-durations of interest were extended into the future to the point where the corresponding Ries and Friesz (2000) model would fail (when actual flow durations would be outside the 90percent prediction intervals for the estimated flows for greater than 10% of sites). The models for the lowest streamflows are estimated to lose validity by as early as 2018. Climate change is predicted to have significant effects on streamflow characteristics in southern New England over the 21 century, and the results of this study indicate that the Ries and Freisz (2000) low-flow models should be reformulated using more recent streamflow data within the next decade, and validated every 20 years thereafter to ensure their accuracies are maintained despite the effects of regional nonstationarity.


In practice, the catchment hydrologist is often confronted with the task of predicting discharge without having the needed records for calibration. Here, we report the discharge predictions of 10 modellers - using the model of their choice - for the man-made Chicken Creek catchment (6 ha, northeast Germany, Gerwin et al., 2009b) and we analyse how well they improved their prediction in three steps based on adding information prior to each following step. The modellers predicted the catchment's hydrological response in its initial phase without having access to the observed records. They used conceptually different physically based models and their modelling experience differed largely. Hence, they encountered two problems: (i) to simulate discharge for an ungauged catchment and (ii) using models that were developed for catchments, which are not in a state of landscape transformation. The prediction exercise was organized in three steps: (1) for the first prediction the modellers received a basic data set describing the catchment to a degree somewhat more complete than usually available for a priori predictions of ungauged catchments; they did not obtain information on stream flow, soil moisture, nor groundwater response and had therefore to guess the initial conditions; (2) before the second prediction they inspected the catchment on-site and discussed their first prediction attempt; (3) for their third prediction they were offered additional data by charging them pro forma with the costs for obtaining this additional information. Hollander et al. (2009) discussed the range of predictions obtained in step (1). Here, we detail the modeller's assumptions and decisions in accounting for the various processes. We document the prediction progress as well as the learning process resulting from the availability of added information. For the second and third steps, the progress in prediction quality is evaluated in relation to individual modelling experience and costs of added information. In this qualitative analysis of a statistically small number of predictions we learned (i) that soft information such as the modeller's system understanding is as important as the model itself (hard information), (ii) that the sequence of modelling steps matters (field visit, interactions between differently experienced experts, choice of model, selection of available data, and methods for parameter guessing), and (iii) that added process understanding can be as efficient as adding data for improving parameters needed to satisfy model requirements.


This symposium addresses legal and constitutional implications of the calls to revive or renew civil society (a realm between the individual and the state, including the family and religious, civic, and other voluntary associations). The erosion or disappearance of civil society is a common diagnosis of what underlies civic and moral decline in America, and its renewal features prominently as a cure for such decline. To date, there has been a great deal of discussion of civil society and proposals for its revival or renewal, but not enough discussion of legal and constitutional implications of such proposals. This symposium seeks to help fill this void. The articles pursue questions such as the following. What role do law and the Constitution play in the constitution of civil society? Does civil society serve as "seedbeds of virtue" - "our foundational sources of competence, character, and citizenship" - and foster self-government? Or is civil society's more vital purpose to serve as a buffer or check against the state? Should government attempt to secure congruence between democratic values and the structure and values of voluntary associations, or would such an effort offend commitments to pluralism and diversity? If it is not possible to establish a clear link between participation in associations, as such, and the inculcation of democratic values, are there some institutions of civil society that are especially valuable for cultivating civic virtue and fostering democratic deliberation? The family features, for civil society-revivalists, as first and foremost among the seedbeds of virtue. Is the family a seedbed of virtue or a school of inequality and injustice? What forms of regulation of the family are necessary and appropriate? Does the vitality of the family as a seedbed of virtue depend upon one particular form of family (i.e., the heterosexual two-parent, marital family) and should government seek to encourage that family form and discourage others? If business, labor, and economic institutions are within civil society, are they seedbeds of virtue that foster civic health or do current economic practices hinder civic health and put pressures on families, endangering their strength? More generally, how do proponents of renewing civil society view the relationship between systemic inequality (including racism) and civic health? Have civil rights movements and gains in equality and liberty contributed to the decline of civil society and civic virtue? Finally, would a revitalized civil society support democratic self-government or supplant it, and with what implications for federalism and the separation of church and state?


During development, a variety of cell types undertake a guided migration to their target location and, consequently, display motile, proliferative and invasive behaviours. Failure in guided migration can result in severe developmental errors, including the formation of metastatic cancers or, in the case of germ cells, congenital defects. Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the germ line stem cell progenitors that produce the gametes and pass the genetic material from generation to generation. In Drosophila melanogaster, as in many other organisms, the PGCs are set-aside at the beginning of embryogenesis as a distinct sub-set of cells that are easily detectable by immunochemical means. As such, they provide a good system in which to study the control of cell migration during development. Furthermore, since they are subject to various cell death and cell survival signals during their journey, they provide an opportunity to study the regulation of stem cell survival in vivo. wunen and wunen-2 encode lipid phosphate phosphatases (LPPs) and regulate Drosophila PGC survival and migration. LPP-like activity has been detected in all cell and tissue types so far studied, but remarkably little is known of their biological functions, and their physiological substrates remain elusive. The first aim of this work was to investigate differences in substrate recognition between Drosophila Wunen and the mammalian LPP isoforms, both in vitro, by means of biochemical assays and in vivo, by examining the ability of the mammalian isoforms to recognise the same physiological substrate as Wunen in Drosophila embryos. It also investigates hetero- and homo- oligomerisation of the fly and mammalian LPPs as a possible mechanism of action. In order to fully understand these proteins, it is necessary to identify and characterise their receptors. This work identifies a G protein-coupled receptor involved in Drosophila PGC migration and survival, and investigates its possible relationship to Wunen.


Adolescence is a very critical period in which gender norms develop for young people and are carried into adulthood. The gender norms of how adolescents construe themselves as fitting the masculine ideal for boys or the feminine ideal for girls have implications for their sexual and reproductive health. Among these norms are norms promoting unequal access to resources that weaken girls' negotiation in sexual issues. This inequality is associated with adolescent pregnancies and poor reproductive health outcomes. Pregnancy in adolescence is associated with health complications and also adverse socio-economic outcomes Aim: The aim of this study was to generate knowledge on adolescents' perceptions of gender differences, gender relations, and empowerment of girls in relation to sexual and reproductive health in the CISMAC RISE project. Methods: A qualitative study employing participant observation, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions was conducted in Southern province of Zambia. Secondary data collected from the same setting was also analyzed. 14 in depth interviews were conducted and 6 focus group discussions as primary data. 2 in depth interviews and 3 focus group discussions from a similar study were included for secondary analysis. Findings: The findings demonstrate that there are multiple, sometimes contradictory and ambiguous ways of demonstrating masculinity and femininity. Findings show that there are exists some liberalism for boys to engage in sexual activity to demonstrate manliness, even though it is contested. Girls' sexuality is censured and is framed in terms of economic and material exchange due to the structural underprivileged position of girls. Empowerment of girls is seen as a form of protecting girls from the economic pressure that make them succumb to relationships and sex. However, empowerment of girls is resisted and seen as an attack on traditional masculinity.


Relative preference for smaller, sooner rewards over larger, later rewards ("delay discounting") is increased by acute ethanol. However, it is unknown whether this effect is driven by a difference in sensitivity to the reinforcer delay or a difference in sensitivity to the reinforcer magnitude, because typical delay discounting tasks manipulate both parameters simultaneously. Additionally, it is unknown which brain regions may play a role in these different aspects of delay discounting. To investigate this, two studies were conducted in separate groups of male Long Evans rats. The first examined the effects of acute systemic administration of ethanol on performance in two separate tasks that measured sensitivity to delay and sensitivity to magnitude. The second examined the effects of acute temporary inactivation of the nucleus accumbens core (AcbC) and lateral orbitofrontal cortex (lOFC) on two separate tasks that measured sensitivity to delay and sensitivity to magnitude as well as a delay discounting task. None of the acute manipulations had any effect on the measures of sensitivity to delay or sensitivity to magnitude, in contrast to their effects on delay discounting in previous literature. Nonetheless, there were several additional findings of interest. First, rats with high sensitivity to delay were found to be resistant to the behaviorally suppressant effects of a moderate dose of ethanol (0.9 g/kg). Second, inactivation of the AcbC was found to significantly decrease delay discounting. Furthermore, this effect of AcbC inactivation was found to be most prominent in animals with initially low levels of delay discounting.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze the clinical evidence on the efficacy of phytotherapy in the treatment of calculi in the urinary tract.

METHODS
To be eligible, full-length articles should include the results of randomized controlled trials enrolling patients affected by urolithiasis, reporting any comparison between an experimental herbal agent versus placebo or any active comparator, aimed at preventing the formation or facilitating the dissolution of calculi in any portion of the urinary tract. Fifteen databases were searched for relevant references. The primary outcomes investigated were (i) the reduction of stone size and/or number and (ii) the urinary excretion rates of calcium, urate, or oxalate. The secondary outcome of the review was the adverse effects (AE) of treatment. Risk of bias (ROB) and quality of the evidence were assessed according to Cochrane and GRADE guidelines. We performed a random-effect meta-analysis.

RESULTS
541 articles were retrieved and 16 studies were finally confirmed as eligible. Multiple Cochrane ROB tool items were rated as having high risk of bias in each analyzed trial report. Pooled analysis of continuous data could be performed for three different comparisons: (i) phytotherapy versus citrate as single agent (ii) phytotherapy versus placebo, (iii) preparation of Didymocarpus pedicellata (DP)--combined with other herbal agents--versus placebo. Results showed that citrate is superior to phytotherapy in significantly decreasing both the size of urinary stones (mean difference: phytotherapy, 0.42 mm higher; 95% CI: 0.23 to 0.6; Z = 4.42, P < 0.0001; I2 = 30%) and the urinary excretion rate of urate (mean difference: 42.32 mg/24h higher, 95% CI: 19.44 to 65.19; Z = 3.63, P = 0.0003; I2 = 96%), assessed after 3 months on-therapy. No significant differences in the excretion rates of urinary calcium or oxalate were found. The DP preparation was superior to placebo in inducing total clearance (risk ratio: 6.19, 95% CI: 2.60 to 14.74; Z = 4.12, P < 0.0001; I2 = 0%) and size reduction (mean difference: DP preparation, 4.93 mm lower; 95% CI: -9.18 to -0.67; Z = 2.27, P = 0.02; I2 = 99%) of renal and ureteral stones after 3 months of therapy. No significant differences in the inter-arm variation of excretion rates of urinary calcium or urate were found as result of the pooled phytotherapy-placebo comparison. Herbal remedies were in general devoid of side effects and in few cases citrate appeared to induce GI disturbances in a higher fraction of patients. Most reports did not provide inferential data concerning AE, and meta-analysis was not feasible.

CONCLUSIONS
Citrate is more effective than phytotherapy in decreasing the size of existing calculi in the urinary tract and in decreasing the urinary excretion rate of uric acid. A preparation containing Didymocarpus pedicellata combined with other herbal agents induces stone size reduction and clearance significantly better than placebo. Mayor limitations in the applicability of these results are the low quality of the evidence and the multiple sources of bias assessed in the studies included in the present review.


Research on teachers' beliefs has gained significant attention in second/foreign language teacher education literature in the last 20 years (3). These studies have highlighted the relevance of teachers' beliefs on teachers' decisions and practices. Although research on beliefs has contributed to our understanding of what teachers think and do, largely these studies have been framed at an individual level (12). However, more recently research has emerged primarily from sociocultural perspectives exploring the social origin of beliefs (2). This paper examines English as a foreign language (EFL) preservice teachers' beliefs about language teaching as part of the activity of learning to teach English in the Chilean context. This paper argues that beliefs mediate preservice teachers' learning, and that they can potentially develop into concepts. This study suggests that beliefs are shaped and reshaped as preservice teachers engage in the activity of learning to teach English.


The publication of a dictionary is a means to describe, codify and ultimately standardise a language. This process is complicated by the lexicographer's own attitude towards the language and the public's sensitivity on language matters. The recent publication of the two most authoritative dictionaries of Modern Greek and their respective lexical coverage reveals the continuing survival of the underlying ideologies of the two sponsoring institutions concerning the history of the Greek language, as well as their opposing standpoints on the language question over the past decades, some 25 years after the constitutional resolution of the Greek diglossia, affecting the way they describe the synchronic state of language. The two dictionaries proceed from opposing starting points in attempting to influence and set a pace for the standardisation of Modern Greek by presenting two different aspects of the synchronic state of Greek, one of which focuses on the long history of the language and thus takes the present state to be only a link in an uninterrupted chain dating from antiquity, and the other of which focuses on the present state of Greek and thus takes this fully developed autonomous code to be the outcome of past linguistic processes and socio-cultural changes in response to the linguistic community's present needs. The absence of a sufficiently representative corpus has restrained the descriptive capacity of the two dictionaries and has given space for ideology to come into play, despite the fact that both dictionaries have made concessions in order to account for the present-day Greek language.


Recent studies demonstrate that biases found in human behavior can be explained by rational agents that make incorrect generative-model assumptions. While predicting a sequence of uncorrelated events, humans are biased towards overestimating its serial correlation. We demonstrate how such biases may also be the consequence of considering noisy observations over limited timescales of previous observations. We use the Kalman filter (KF) to study the upper-bound on human prediction performance. We investigate how the brain could estimate the necessary parameters for the KF based on the only source of information available to it, previous observations. We develop a variant of the KF model (dual memory) that obtains estimates of the KF parameters and its state over limited timescales of previous observations. The dual memory model predicts that the serial correlation should be veridical in responses for observations that are correlated in time and should be overestimated for uncorrelated ones. Second, the extent of overestimated correlation in the responses should be robust to varying noise-levels. Third, the overestimated correlation should persist regardless of whether previous observations are shown or not, if the same world-model is used. To test these hypotheses we performed an experiment where human observers were asked to predict time series, each with varying autocorrelations and noise-levels. One group was provided brief feedback whereas another was provided the history of observations. We found that the behavior of the participants was consistent with all three predictions. Further, we found a strong agreement between predictions of the dual memory model and previous empirical reports of bias in human forecasts of time series. We conclude that a markovian state-estimation model that would otherwise be optimal in predicting time series, displays the same biases in its predictions as humans do if it obtains parametric information over limited timescales of noisy observations. Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2016.


A federal court of appeals ordinarily has no authority to entertain an appeal that is filed out of time. On occasion, however, the untimeliness of an appeal will result not from the appellant's carelessness or lack of familiarity with governing timing prescriptions, but instead from reasonable reliance upon a district court's representation that the appeal period would be lengthier than it turned out to be. To provide the courts of appeals with an equitable basis upon which to reach the merits of such an appeal, the United States Supreme Court recognized what has come to be known as the unique circumstances doctrine. Employing this approach, the courts of appeals were able to preserve numerous appeals that were technically untimely. The Supreme Court's most recent pronouncements on the unique circumstances doctrine, however, have narrowed it almost completely out of existence. Specifically, the Court recently declared that, given the jurisdictional nature of the timing prescriptions contained in 28 U.S.C. § 2107, the doctrine can no longer be applied in the context in which it was most often implicated: an appeal as of right from a decision by a federal district court in a civil proceeding. Even before that decision, the Court had generated significant confusion by imposing conditions for the doctrine's application that were both unduly demanding and inconsistent with its original understanding. Ironically, as a consequence of either of these rulings, the doctrine no longer encompasses the circumstances giving rise to Harris Truck Lines, Inc. v. Cherry Meat Packers, Inc., the very case in which the Court initially recognized and invoked the doctrine. The courts of appeals have thus been deprived of discretion to reach the merits of many appeals that would have fallen within the purview of the doctrine as originally conceived. This Article urges that Congress reclaim legislatively the essence of the unique circumstances doctrine that the Supreme Court had implemented judicially in Harris. Such a measure would involve an amendment to § 2107 codifying a formulation of the doctrine that comports with its original understanding. To derive that formulation, this Article examines Harris and the Court's other key decisions addressing the doctrine. The formulation ultimately reached is that in determining whether an appeal is timely, a court of appeals is bound to accept as true any representation of a district court upon which a litigant reasonably relies in foregoing an opportunity to initiate an indisputably timely appeal. This quasi-estoppel approach to the doctrine appropriately emphasizes the notion that the timeliness of an appeal should not be governed by ordinarily applicable timing prescriptions when the appellant would have complied with those prescriptions but for the district court's representation that more time to appeal would be available. Instead, the court of appeals must assume the truth of the district court's representation, even if legally erroneous, and assess the timeliness of the appeal accordingly.


Abstract. A method for semiautomated landslide detection and mapping, with the ability to separate source and run-out areas, is presented in this paper. It combines object-based image analysis and a support vector machine classifier and is tested using a GeoEye-1 multispectral image, sensed 3 days after a major damaging landslide event that occurred on Madeira Island (20 February 2010), and a pre-event lidar digital terrain model. The testing is developed in a 15 km2 wide study area, where 95 % of the number of landslides scars are detected by this supervised approach. The classifier presents a good performance in the delineation of the overall landslide area, with commission errors below 26 % and omission errors below 24 %. In addition, fair results are achieved in the separation of the source from the run-out landslide areas, although in less illuminated slopes this discrimination is less effective than in sunnier, east-facing slopes.


DNA samples from 231 unselected patients with cataracts were studied to determine the frequency of the DM mutation in cataract patients. A previous epidemiological study established a high prevalence of DM in the population of Guipúzcoa (Basque Country, Spain), 26.5 cases/100,000. We have found two carriers (0.9%) of the DM mutation in patients who are not related to any previously known DM family. The screening of the DM mutation in cataract patients should be restricted to young patients or people with multicoloured and iridescent opacities, in which the risk of carrying the DM premutation could be higher. Our results suggest that subjects with 38 to 80 repeats could constitute the genetic reservoir of the DM mutation.


1. The lipid and protein composition of subfractions of plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) has been determined in nine patients with primary hypothyroidism before and after 3 months of thyroxine therapy. Analyses were also made of subfractions of very-low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) in four of the patients. 2. Before therapy seven of the patients had elevated LDL-cholesterol and two had increased VLDL-cholesterol concentrations. On thyroxine replacement the mean LDL-cholesterol fell to normal. No significant change occurred in the concentration of cholesterol in VLDL or in high-density lipoprotein (HDL). 3. The concentrations of cholesterol, triglyceride and apolipoprotein B (apoB) were increased in the LDL subfraction of S f 10·4–20, which corresponds mainly to intermediate-density lipoprotein. This subfraction showed a marked fall on therapy. The cholesterol and apoB concentrations in the major LDL fraction of S f 5·7–12 also decreased on therapy, but the fall in the subfraction of S f 3·5–6·5 did not reach statistical significance. 4. Only the VLDL subfraction of smallest size ( S f 20–60) had any abnormality before therapy, with an increased concentration of cholesterol. On thyroxine the concentration of triglyceride rose in the VLDL subfractions. 5. These data suggest that thyroxine exerts its major effect on lipoprotein metabolism by promoting the conversion into LDL of intermediate-density lipoprotein, formed by catabolism of VLDL.


This paper aims to problematise how we step into situations that are often contested, contingent and contradictory. In this context, how can we sharpen our sensitivity to the role design plays in generating understanding and future-making possibilities? Here, we employ the term disruption as a way to question our own knowledge construction and research practices in design anthropology and participatory design. We pursue disruption as a political and necessary consciousness when design anthropology meets participatory design and discuss the generative, reflexive and analytical dimensions of disruption through three vignettes. These vignettes raise questions of how we interrogate disruptions of power to consider different ways in which this manifests when entering into and participating in on-going changing process. They also highlight the need to displace existing knowledge, rather than pursuing 'mutual learning' that had been a defining commitment of participatory design. Lastly, the vignettes reveal the need to disrupt the designer-researcher in order to surrender to contradiction and contingency as part of future-making.


Information security recognised the human as the weakest link. Despite numerous international or sector-specific standards and frameworks, the information security community has not yet adopted formal mechanisms to manage human errors that cause information security breaches. Such techniques have been however established within the safety field where human reliability analysis (HRA) techniques are widely applied. In previous work we developed Information Security Core Human Error Causes (IS-CHEC) to fill this gap. This case study presents empirical research that uses IS-CHEC over a 12 month period within two participating public and private sector organisations in order to observe and understand how the implementation of the IS-CHEC information security HRA technique affected the respective organisations. The application of the IS-CHEC technique enabled the proportions of human error related information security incidents to be understood as well as the underlying causes of these incidents. The study captured the details of the incidents in terms of the most common underlying causes, selection of remedial and preventative measures, volumes of reported information security incidents, proportions of human error, common tasks undertaken at the time the incident occurred, as well as the perceptions of key individuals within the participating organisations through semi-structured interviews. The study confirmed in both cases that the vast majority of reported information security incidents relate to human error, and although the volumes of human error related incidents pertaining to both participating organisations fluctuated over the 12 month period, the proportions of human error remained consistently as the majority root cause.


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We examine the influence of bedrock strength properties, imparted by jointing and fracturing, on the retreat of erosional escarpments across passive continental margins. Two types of escarpment are identified, and focus is placed on the gorge head–knickpoint form of escarpment, where upland streams drain across the escarpment. Along the Macleay River system of eastern Australia, major knickpoints associated with escarpment retreat are currently located about 200 km upstream from the river mouth, despite differences in bedrock lithology and order-of-magnitude differences in drainage areas upstream of the gorge heads, implying an average escarpment retreat rate of 2 km/m.y. since the margin formed 85 m.y. ago. Field observations from Apsley River gorge, a Macleay River tributary, indicate that bedrock jointing profoundly affects the evolution of the gorge headwall and sidewalls. Where dominant jointing dips into hillslopes, failure occurs by block and column toppling. Conversely, where jointing dips out of hillslopes, mass wasting occurs by joint-parallel rock sliding, allowing slopes to remain steep. As material is shed from the gorge sidewalls, the toppling slopes develop lower overall gradients, the gorge becomes asymmetric in cross section, and the channel remains nearer to the steeper sidewall affected by joint-parallel sliding. Coupling between fluvial and hillslope processes is essential to maintain headward propagation of the knickpoint–gorge head and to facilitate mass wasting from the gorge sidewalls. Peak stream discharge across the gorge head must exceed a threshold sufficient to transport debris away from the gorge head to keep the knickpoint rock face free of talus, to incise the stream channel, and to erode the toes of the sidewalls. If these conditions on fluvial processes are met, then hillslope processes, including rockslope failure mechanisms, are the rate controlling processes for knickpoint propagation and therefore determine the rate of escarpment retreat across the passive margin.


A highly sensitive method based on UV photochemical vapor generation capacitively coupled plasma microtorch optical emission using a low resolution microspectrometer was developed for total mercury determination in food and water. The method fulfils most of the eco-scale criteria in terms of derivatization and cost-effective miniaturized instrumentation, which are major benefits compared to cold vapor atomic fluorescence spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. Formic acid was the single reagent used for the extraction of Hg species from solid samples and as a reaction medium for the UV photo-induced cold vapor generation. A 200 mg lyophilized sample was subjected to ultrasonic assisted extraction in 10 mL of HCOOH 98–100% at 50 °C for 3 h, and then on-line derivatization to cold vapor was performed in 0.6 mol L−1 HCOOH. Water and food with low Hg content adjusted in HCOOH 0.6 mol L−1 underwent on-line preconcentration of Hg vapor on a gold filament microcollector. Total Hg was quantified against external standards containing Hg2+ by recording emission at 253.652 nm in a low power/Ar consumption (15 W/100 mL min−1) plasma source with a Maya2000 Pro (Ocean Optics) microspectrometer. The proposed method was compared with common laboratory approaches based on derivatization with SnCl2 and detection by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry/atomic fluorescence spectrometry, and thermal decomposition atomic absorption spectrometry. The limits of detection obtained without/with preconcentration were 3.5/0.1 ng L−1 in solution and 9/0.25 μg kg−1 in the solid, much better than those in the reference methods. The proposed method was found to be free from interference coming from multimineral matrices and organic matter, and suitable for sample analysis with various matrices as it provided a recovery of Hg without/with preconcentration of 101 ± 7%/101 ± 12% in food and 97 ± 12% in water.


At the request of Malta's Infectious Disease Prevention and Control Unit (IDCU), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) organized an expert mission in Malta in 2009 to provide support for a vector-borne disease (VBD) risk assessment. As these diseases are clearly related to the presence of competent and efficient vectors, and as little information was available on the local mosquito fauna (Diptera: Culicidae), a field study was implemented during the mission. The aim was to determine the presence and relative abundance of potential vectors, and to assess the risk of transmission of mosquito-borne diseases. From April 6th to May 1st, 2009, a total of 114 among 513 investigated putative larval habitat units contained mosquito immature stages. Artificial habitats and coastal saltwater rock pools predominated among the larval habitats. Also, 1,150 female mosquitoes were caught with dry-ice baited light traps. Seven species among the nine known to occur in Malta at the time of the study were observed and Culex theileri is reported here for the first time. The most commonly encountered species were Culiseta longiareolata and Culex pipiens. Culex hortensis was only found on the island of Gozo. The mosquitoes of the Mariae complex have been identified in the past as Aedes zammitii but all except four of the specimens collected showed morphological characters corresponding to Aedes mariae. Neither Anopheles spp. nor Aedes albopictus were found despite the investigation of suitable larval habitats and the use of CO2-baited light traps and a few ovitraps. However, these species are known to be more abundant during the summer months and further investigations are needed to confirm their absence or their presence and distribution on the islands. The mosquito-related risk of disease for humans in Malta is discussed and West Nile fever appears to be the most probable mosquito-borne disease that could appear in Malta. The eventual finding of Aedes albopictus after this study was completed further strengthens the need to survey both chikungunya and dengue infections.


This paper examines the relationship between inflation and the return on individual corporate securities. This question is of substantial importance in light of the puzzling behavior of the stock market over the last decade. Conventional financial theory holds that equity should be a good inflation hedge since it represents a claim of real rather than nominal assets. Yet a negative relationship between both expected and unexpected inflation and stock market returns has been widely documented. This relationship, which appears to antedate the surge in inflation over the last 15 years. might provide an explanation for the market's surprising recent performance. This paper studies differences across firms in the response of stock market values to changes in expected inflation in an effort to explore the reasons for the aggregate negative relationship between inflation and stock market values. Two opposing hypotheses about the impact of inflation on market valuation are contrasted. The "inflation illusion" hypothesis holds that investors are not able to see through nominal accounting statements and respond to reported rather than real profits. The opposing "tax effects" hypothesis holds that firms which report spuriously high profits due to inflation are penalized because the extra tax burden incurred reduces real profits. The results from the 1970's strongly bear out the predictions of the tax effects hypothesis. Aggregate calculations suggest that the interaction of inflation and taxation can account for a large part of the decline in the stock market which has been observed over the past decade. A significant part of the remainder appears to be due to increasing investor awareness of the need to adjust for historic cost depreciation.


Raising learners' awareness of the target language phonology is one of the aims in foreign language teaching. Phonetic transcription has traditionally been used in language teaching particularly at advanced levels. This study examines the phonemic transcription of 30 English words by a number of 60 Egyptian learners studying an introductory phonetics course at undergraduate level. It attempts to find out the errors made by students in transcribing English words involving consonants in particular. It also seeks to explain the reasons for these errors, with the aim of raising learners' awareness of them. The study touches upon the deeper underlying structures involved in learning phonemic transcription. Identifying the most frequent errors in phonemic transcription by Egyptian learners of English can help place more emphasis on them in teaching, thus helping the learning process to be more successful.


Financial regulation and economic development have one thing in common – they both develop in a cyclical manner and intertwine. This is especially the case following the recent announcement by the coalition government to emancipate the Financial Services Authority (FSA), which was heralded as being the 'darling' of the regulatory world. During this time span, the United Kingdom (UK) has seen a 'golden age' of finance which has resulted in a housing boom and an unprecedented period of economic prosperity. However, during the last three years of the Labour government's administration, the UK saw an unprecedented economic downturn. When the system of financial regulation has been reformed it is certain that these changes have been spurred on by financial crisis (or two!) or a financial decline. Therefore why are we surprised that when on the third anniversary of the most recent economic crisis, a new regulatory structure has been proposed by the coalition government? Is it because the FSA was heralded as the 'super regulatory agency' that would put an end to financial scandals and financial crises? Well … yes, we became too complacent that the golden age of finance would continue and that the FSA would save us from the perils of the past. However, the passing of regulatory and supervisory power from the Bank of England to the FSA did at the time; ruffle a few feathers in the City. For those advocates who despised this regulatory shift, it is now time for them to know that the tide has turned and the FSA's shift is over and it will be returned to the Bank of England.
This paper examines the new banking reform proposals against the economic backdrop outlined above. At the heart of the paper is the proposition that everything in finance, whether it is the economic boom and bust, or the regulatory structure is set to this metronome of cyclicality. To this end the paper is divided into two parts. The first part of the paper looks at the main proposals of the reform such as the Office of Budget Responsibility; the emancipation of the FSA and the rise of the Central Bank and the structural changes to the financial institutions. The second part explores whether the future of the financial services sector is now clearer because of these reforms or whether no financial system is ever safe from financial scandal and crisis no matter how robust the regulatory system is.


Peritonitis is associated with an increasing morbidity and mortality rate in peritoneal dialysis patients. A number of peritonitis cases result in hypoalbuminemia, and in other cases, peritonitis follows a decline in the serum albumin level. However, it is not clear whether the level of serum albumin can be utilized to predict and prevent the incidence of peritonitis. A quasi-systematic search of the literature was conducted in the following databases: Cochrane, EBSCO, ProQuest, AHMED, CINHAL, MEDLINE, and EMBASE, from January 2008 to January 2018. The data was reviewed and extracted from each study. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme and the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Six articles met the stated inclusion criteria of the quasi-systematic review. The study found a significant correlation between a low serum albumin level at the start of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) and the development of peritonitis. Thus, hypoalbuminemia can be utilized as a warning sign of the occurrence of peritonitis in CAPD. Consequently, immediate intervention is required when the level of serum albumin declines in order to prevent peritonitis.


Microinsurance services have been operating in Ghana for the last decade, but the question whether they have enhanced the welfare of low-income households, mostly in the informal sector, is largely unresearched. In particular the study asks: does microinsurance improve the welfare of households through asset retention, consumption smoothing and inequality reduction? This question has been examined through the use of the 2010 FINSCOPE survey which contains indepth information on 3 642 households across the rural and urban settings of the country. In order to control for selection bias and endogeneity bias, Heckman sample selection, instrumental variable and treatment effect models were employed for the evaluation. The results of the assessment have been compiled into four empirical essays. The first essay investigates the impact of microinsurance on household asset accumulation. The findings show that microinsurance has a positive welfare impact in terms of household asset accumulation. This suggests that microinsurance prevents asset pawning and liquidation of essential household assets at 'give away' prices. By absorbing the risk of low-income households, insurance equips them to cope effectively with risk, empowers them to escape poverty and sustains the welfare gains achieved. The second essay examines the impact of microinsurance on consumption smoothing. It delves into the capacity of microinsurance to enable households to avoid costly risk-coping methods which are detrimental to health and well-being. The results reveal that insured households are less likely to reduce the daily intake of meals, which is an indication that microinsurance is a better option for managing consumption smoothing among low-income households. The third essay investigates the effect of microinsurance on households' asset inequality. The findings indicate that the asset inequality of insured households is less than that of uninsured households. Insured female-headed households have much lower asset inequality than maleheaded households, but uninsured female-headed households are worse off than both uninsured and insured male-headed households. The regional trend reveals that developmental gaps impede the capacity of microinsurance to bridge the asset inequality gap. The fourth essay asks: Does microcredit improve the well-being of low-income households in the absence of microinsurance? The findings show a weak influence of microcredit on household welfare. However households using microcredit in combination with microinsurance derive significant gains in terms of welfare improvement. Microcredit may be good, but its real benefits to the poor is best realised if the poverty trapping risks are covered with microinsurance. To this extent, combining microcredit with microinsurance will empower the poor to make a sustainable Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za


Information on retroviruses infections in great apes is scarce, especially for apes kept in sanctuaries throughout Africa. To investigate the prevalence of retroviruses and possible transmission of different retroviruses originating from chimpanzees of different origin (Uganda, Congo and Rwanda), 38 wild-born captive orphan chimpanzees residing in a sanctuary on Ngamba Island were analyzed for retroviral infections. Samples from sanctuary chimpanzees were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunoassays and polymerase chain reactions (PCR). Viruses were characterized by phylogenetic analysis. All chimpanzees were negative for antibodies against Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) and Simian T-cell Leukemia Virus (STLV). However, 28/38 (73%) chimpanzees were positive to Simian Foamy Virus (SFV) by analysis of a 425-bp DNA segment obtained by PCR using generic integrase primers homologous to highly conserved portions of the polymerase gene. Phylogenetic analysis of SFV sequences obtained in this study formed four sub clusters within the specific SFV P. t. schweinfurthii clade with significant variability among the new SFVs strains. We provide evidence of on-going cross-transmission of SFV among chimpanzees within the sanctuary mostly likely through horizontal routes. We propose to test all chimpanzees introduced into sanctuaries for retroviral and other infections. This will help avoid the spread also of pathogenic viruses in captive populations.


Co-crystallization is the supramolecular phenomenon of aggregation of two or more different chemical entities in a crystalline lattice through non-covalent interactions. It encompasses the study of the manifestation of multi-component crystalline solids as well as their design. The chemistry community and the literature suggest cocrystals with reference to co-crystallization products and multi-component crystalline solids. Over the last decade cocrystals have become very popular as a potential new/alternate solid form of pharmaceuticals. However, there is no consensus on what exactly a cocrystal means and what it constitutes across academia, industry and regulatory bodies. On the other hand, cocrystals have been endorsed to the extent that the following facts have been obscured: (1) cocrystals are only one of the putative outcomes of co-crystallization, if at all, and (2) their application goes way beyond pharmaceuticals. Solvates, solid solutions, eutectics, salts, ionic liquids, solid dispersions, supramolecular gelators etc. are among the multifarious products of co-crystallization. The manifestation of these supramolecular/non-covalent crystalline adducts is controlled by the inherent nature of the system (the components involved) besides the surroundings (temperature, solvent, pH etc.); in effect it is a thermodynamic outcome. Each of these adducts, including cocrystals, are unique, exhibit varied physicochemical properties and are amenable to design and therefore have, and potentially find, manifold applications in diverse fields such as organic synthesis & separation, green chemistry, energy storage, solar cells, electronics, luminescent and smart materials, apart from pharmaceuticals. This article highlights the diversity of crystal forms and the utility of small molecule supramolecular combinations.


An esteemed but embattled colleague has finally decided to step down as Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurosurgery at a prestigious Medical School and medical center. The issue was alleged "gender bias": he did not support the promotion of a female faculty member. Perhaps there was "gender bias." Perhaps she really didn't deserve promotion. Nonetheless, she filed a lawsuit. The case came to trial and our colleague and his medical center lost – with a 7-figure judgment in favor of the plaintiff.

The case hinged on alleged "sexist remarks" and abusive comments made by the defendant to the plaintiff in the presence of others. Possibly, the alleged remarks were made in bad taste humor – the type of "ribbing" that colleagues give each other. Or maybe the remarks had an edge to them. It doesn't matter. Haven't all of us endured snide and even mean-spirited remarks from superiors during our training programs or as junior faculty members? In neurosurgery, one learns to roll with the punches. And if a job becomes intolerable or we do not get what we feel we deserve, we move on to another institution that provides more opportunity. We usually don't file lawsuits.

Medicine, in general, and neurosurgery in particular, is stressful. Sometimes "humor" is used to relieve the stress and, of course, there are also the occasional barbed remarks that many of us will remember for a lifetime. However, academic promotions should be based on merit – not on threats. A jury of our "peers" (unlikely any of whom has ever set foot in an operating room) has now determined that this should not go on. Everyone should treat everyone else with "respect" and everyone should be given equal treatment – even the marginally capable – especially if they are in a "minority." Affirmative action in action! But wait a minute – since when are women a minority? In fact, in the USA, at least, women outnumber men.

So what's the problem? Well, some women have the audacity to try and enter an "old boys club." And at one time, medicine in general was, in fact, an "old boys' club." Spaces in medical schools were limited (as they sill are) and men, it was assumed, would practice medicine for a lifetime. Women, the argument went, would have to drop out from time to time to have babies, spend time with growing children, and tend to marriages and such. It was thought that they would not practice medicine with the same full-time dedication as men who had the luxury of a wife at home keeping the home fires burning while they, the men, labored from dawn to dusk healing the sick.

Some women chose to challenge that, and many were met with overwhelming hostility from male superiors in medical schools and residency programs. But through the force of their personalities, they persevered, finished their training programs and had successful and productive careers. At one time, women in medical schools were a small minority. Now the total number of female applicants exceeds male applicants and women now make up 49% of US medical school graduates. True, some do drop out of medicine to deal with family matters and to pursue other interests. But so do men who tire of 80+ hour workweeks, demanding patients, insurance company bureaucracy, etc., causing them to burn out, drop out, and decide to work for drug companies, write novels, or make a living as expert witnesses, or whatever. Nonetheless, women have had a tough time in the past.

We had six women in my 1966 medical school class of 100 students. I recall one in particular. I'll call her Barbara (I won't use her real name because she became quite famous). She was extremely intelligent but had a somewhat abrasive personality that did not make her popular – especially with superiors. In particular, she ran afoul of one of the top faculty surgeons who took an immediate dislike to her. Every day at rounds, this surgeon would viciously berate and embarrass Barbara in front of patients, nurses, residents and her classmates. But that just made Barbara work harder. She studied harder, stayed up late working up patients and writing her reports – only to be ignored and humiliated by the surgeon the next morning. Did she file a lawsuit or report the surgeon to the medical school? No, she did not. She just made herself work even harder.

Finally the surgeon realized that Barbara knew a great deal more medicine than her classmates. And after a while, the surgeon, when informed about a new patient, would by-pass the residents' and interns' chart notes and go straight to Barbara's history, physical exams and write-ups in the patient's chart in order to find out what was really going on with the patient.

Eventually, the surgeon found out that Barbara wanted to be a surgeon. Guess who helped her get a residency? That surgeon! And when she was finishing her residency, that same surgeon invited her to join his practice as a partner. She had a brilliant career and became one of the most respected and successful surgeons in the city. Was she "discriminated against"? Yes, she was. Was there "gender bias"? No doubt about it! But that just made her stronger.

When I was a neurosurgical resident at Northwestern, I remember Ruth. She was an extremely attractive radiology resident who used to sit in on our morning neuroradiology conferences with Dr. Paul Bucy. Ordinarily the presence of a pretty young lady would put a smile on Bucy's face and a bounce in his step – as long as she didn't want to be a doctor. Bucy felt that women had no place in medicine (unless they wanted to be nurses), and he was not circumspect when he had an opinion about something. He made a point of completely ignoring Ruth – until at one of these conferences, a patient's chest x-ray was put up on the view box.

"That's a Goddamned Chest x-ray!'" Bucy exclaimed.

"Get a radiologist."

"Here's a radiologist," I piped up, pointing to Ruth.

Like guns on a turret, Bucy's eyes moved from me to focus on this pretty redhead.

"Patrick," he said, "That's not a radiologist; that's a girl!" (Bucy had a tendency to state the obvious and have it sound like a revelation).

Ruth's complexion turned the color of her hair. And in the Women's Lib lingua franca of the early 1970's, she shot back: "What difference does that make?"

Bucy didn't answer her, but instead turned to me and said with a sly smile:

"They have stars in their eyes, Sir!" – a sexist remark if there ever was one.

Everyone laughed. And so did Ruth. She then stepped up and competently read the chest x-ray for him.

After that Bucy would occasionally call on Ruth at conferences when one of his residents didn't know the answer to one of his esoteric questions. She always knew the answer.

"See, Patrick - even a girl knows more than you do!" he'd bluster.

Did Ruth ever report him to the medical school or the "Equal Opportunity Committee" for his "sexist remarks"? Did she file a lawsuit? No, she didn't. She laughed them off and kept on working. She respected Bucy for who he was and he quickly learned to respect her for her hard work, intelligence and for her determination. Ruth went on to become one of the most respected academic neuro-radiologists in the country.

A few years ago, when I was Chairman of Neurosurgery at NYU, we ranked two female neurosurgical residency applicants as choices Numbers "1" and "2." They also chose us, and did not disappoint us. In fact, these two young women performed spectacularly. Did they take "abuse"? Yes, from time to time, they did. But so did their male counterparts. That's part of a neurosurgical program! Neurosurgery is high-pressure, and serious business. As George Tindall once told me: "Pat, we ain't treatin' measles."

This brings me back to the situation I mentioned at the start of this diatribe. Reportedly, the woman doctor in question was forced to work in a "hostile" and "malignant" environment. I've visited that institution and I tend to agree; that particular medical center is, indeed, "high pressure" and competitive and, at that institution, that culture seems to breed academic productivity. However, if one cannot tolerate this "unpleasant' culture, why not simply find another job?

In my opinion, playing the sexual bias card, filing a lawsuit and making this a cause celebre has actually hurt the cause of women who wish to enter neurosurgery. Neurosurgical Chairs and Program Directors may now consider women candidates for faculty or residency positions with trepidation. They may see potential sexual bias lawsuits and trouble as the marginally competent can now claim minority or sexual discrimination when they don't succeed. Defense against these types of lawsuits will require laborious, time-consuming "paper trails" and documentation before an incompetent or lackluster person can be dismissed from a residency or not promoted in an academic position. And even then they could end up as defendants at the mercy of a jury that ponders the relevance of the documentation. Considering all of the bureaucratic concerns that academic chairs must now deal with, who needs to add yet another?


Quantifying oceanic anthropogenic carbon uptake by monitoring interior dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations is complicated by the influence of natural variability. The "eMLR method" aims to address this issue by using empirical regression fits of the data instead of the data themselves, inferring the change in anthropogenic carbon in time by difference between predictions generated by the regressions at each time. The advantages of the method are that it provides in principle a means to filter out natural variability, which theoretically becomes the regression residuals, and a way to deal with sparsely and unevenly distributed data. The degree to which these advantages are realized in practice is unclear, however. The ability of the eMLR method to recover the anthropogenic carbon signal is tested here using a global circulation and biogeochemistry model in which the true signal is known. Results show that regression model selection is particularly important when the observational network changes in time. When the observational network is fixed, the likelihood that co-located systematic misfits between the empirical model and the underlying, yet unknown, true model cancel is greater, improving eMLR results. Changing the observational network modifies how the spatio-temporal variance pattern is captured by the respective datasets, resulting in empirical models that are dynamically or regionally inconsistent, leading to systematic errors. In consequence, the use of regression formulae that change in time to represent systematically best-fit models at all times does not guarantee the best estimates of anthropogenic carbon change if the spatial distributions of the stations emphasize hydrographic features differently in time. Other factors, such as a balanced and representative station coverage, vertical continuity of the regression formulae consistent with the hydrographic context and resiliency of the spatial distribution of the residual field can be used to help guide model selection. The characteristic spatial scales of the modes of inter-annual to decadal variability in relation to the size of the North Atlantic, in concert with the station coverage available, place practical limits on the ability of eMLR to fully account for natural variability. Due to its statistical nature, eMLR only efficiently removes the natural variability whose spatial scales are smaller than the system analyzed.


[Extract] Executive Summary. Queensland Department of Natural Resources is formulating a Water Allocation and Management Planning (WAMP) framework to achieve the sustainable use and management of water resources. This review provides a background for the WAMP process in the Barron River Catchment Basin. There was no provision for field work so the report relies on available reports and on the knowledge of the writers. More intensive and primary work will be required as part of the WAMP process.

The Barron River rises at about 1000 m, east of Herberton, then flows north through Atherton and Mareeba, east through Kuranda and the Barron Gorge, then across a narrow floodplain to its mouth 15 km north of Cairns. Its length is about 165 km and its catchment is about 2100 km2. It is dammed at Tinaroo, in its upper reaches, providing water for irrigation and domestic supply, and there is a weir at Kuranda in its lower reaches for power generation. The climate varies from humid to subhumid, with well defined wet and dry seasons. Stream flow is high but highly variable in the wet season, and moderate and less variable in the dry season. There are four major parental rock materials in the region (Barron River metamorphics, Atherton basalts, Granites, and Carboniferous rhyolites) together with alluvium derived from them. Vegetation includes rainforest (27% of the area), Eucalyptus Woodland (31%), Tussock Grassland (17%), Dense Sown Pasture (15%) and sugar cane (5%).

Six management zones are recognised on the basis of physiographic and demographic and ecological information. The lack of information on river morphology and ecological processes necessitated adopting these zones in this review. Some of the zones overlap with the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area (WTWHA) which includes rare rainforest species and vegetation types, endangered and vulnerable faunal species, and areas of special evolutionary significance. The zones are: 1. Upper Barron and 2. Tinaroo, including the headwaters of the river and overlapping with the WTWHA; the landscape comprises rainforest, woodlands, improved pastures, and agricultural and horticultural crops; 3. Central which includes a large tract of irrigated agricultural land, rainforest on the mountains and eucalypt and paperbark woodland elsewhere; 4. Northern, characterised by extensive grazing and intensive agriculture, and rainforest, much of which is in the WTWHA; 5. Kuranda, which includes the Barron Gorge and immediately upstream and a large area of the WTWHA; 6. Lower Barron, which includes the lowland floodplain which is used for extensive urban development and sugarcane growing. This zone is sub-divided into estuarine and non-estuarine sections; the lower end of the estuary is surrounded by extensive mangrove forest.

No comprehensive geomorphological and ecological description of the Barron River appears to exist, and there is a paucity of detailed research on the flora and fauna of the river. Because of this, and the variability in morphology, geology and vegetation along the river, it is difficult to evaluate major ecological processes. A targeted study on the river's habitats and other features relevant to ecological processes is warranted.

Major issues, their ecological effects and possible remedial actions are detailed in the report. They include: 1. Flow, which is the single most important physical characteristic that influences the ecology of streams and rivers. Habitats are structured by the flow regime in combination with geological and geomorphological factors. The biota is generally well adapted to the flow regime that has selected it, so its character is directly related to the flow regime. The Barron's flow has predictable strong seasonality, but the timing and size of spates are not predictable. Substantial changes to the flow are expected to result in changes to the biota through reduction in habitat extent, habitat diversity, biodiversity, riparian zone viability, water quality, dilution of contaminants, reproductive cues, and so on. 2. Riparian Vegetation, which plays a key role in influencing the structure and function of stream ecosystems. A wide natural riparian zone has strong positive influences on water quality, stream morphology and habitat availability, instream primary production, litter accession and wildlife habitat. Alteration of the flow regime can seriously affect the riparian zone. 3. Water quality which encompasses the physical and chemical constituents of water, such as temperature, and dissolved and suspended material, including contaminants All of these variables are affected by flow, and can be differently affected by flows from different sources. 4. Sedimentation and Bank Erosion are natural processes which are the basis for habitat construction, determining distribution of different substrata and plants, and the animals that associate with them. Change in the flow regime is capable of causing major changes to the character of stream habitats, either on the bed or by increasing bank erosion. 5. Weeds and introduced animal species which can have devastating effects on native vegetation and animals. Changed flow regimes can aid dispersal and establishment of these exotic species. 6. Significant species and habitats occur in much of the Barron catchment, in all of the zones, but the data available on important species are fragmentary and do not relate to the Barron specifically. For species with direct relationships with the river (e.g. platypus), any change to the flow regime of the river has the potential for serious impact. Loss of native species has been identified as a major issue in the catchment. 7. Major impacts accrue from extensive land clearing in the catchment, causing sedimentation and poor water quality, 8. Continuation of required water supply for domestic and agricultural use is a major issue in the catchment. Addressing this problem has direct impact on stream flows, and requires careful management.

The Barron catchment is quite remarkable in its diversity of climate, landscape, agricultural output and conservation values. Its diversity of habitats contributes to high species richness of plants and animal. It is situated in one of the most rapidly developing regions of the country, with urban, agricultural and tourist developments moving ahead rapidly. Increasing water supplies are required to provide domestic and irrigation water. The Barron is an obvious source of water, and already is heavily regulated via the Tinaroo Dam and Kuranda weir. There appears to be little published information on the effects of these impoundments on the ecology of the river.

This review found a large body of information, yet it is fragmentary, because most of the information has little to do with the river itself. While it was possible to describe the general catchment, it was not possible to describe the aquatic environments and their biota in detail. Therefore, assessment of the impacts of changes in flow regime require extensive field work. Even a moderate survey of the river's morphology and habitats would greatly improve the ability to predict the effects of change in flow regime. Targeted seasonal sampling of flows, water quality, and the biota will be required in assessing impacts of change. Such studies are not difficult, but given the size of the river would be quite time consuming.

We therefore recommend that as a preliminary to impact assessment and new developments, a basic ecological survey of the river be undertaken. This should include: •description of major habitat types and their extent; •assessment of the integrity of the riparian zone along the whole river; •modelling of seasonal patterns of flow; •measurement of stream channel parameters to investigate the relationship between absolute flow and the extent of each habitat; and •sampling of fish and invertebrates to investigate habitat requirements of the biota and probable life cycle strategies.

This survey would provide a baseline for all future impact assessment. It could also contribute in a major way to State of the Environment Reporting, allowing long-term assessments of change in the environment to be made.


This study examines the excavation of a villa rustica located in the south-east suburbs of Naples. This villa has been attributed to C. Olius Ampliatus because during the excavation a signaculum with his name was discovered. The excavated building was built in the late second century BC and enlarged in the time of Augustus and destroyed during the famous eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. This intact Roman villa of the Imperial period contained machinery for the production of wine and olive oil, and the pars urbana of the house was decorated with mosaics in opus signinum. In the basement below the torcularium was found the body of the vilicus who sought refuge there during the catastrophe.


Cost and benefits of high individual growth rates are likely to vary across different environments leading to geographic differentiation in growth strategies. In ectotherms, habitats constrained by short growing seasons favour rapid growth and development leading to adaptive latitudinal clines in these traits. Geographic variation in growth strategies should be influenced by physiological variation as well as environmental factors, however many of these mechanisms remain largely unexplored. In my thesis, I studied hormonal correlates of growth strategies, and compensatory responses to phenological variation and environmental stress in anuran tadpoles. I tested the hypotheses that fast growing high latitude common frog Rana temporaria tadpoles have higher growth hormone (GH) expression, and low stress hormone (CORT) elevation in response to predator stress. I found no relationship between GH expression and latitude, but CORT response decreased with latitude after 24 hours of predator exposure. Lower CORT response at high latitude can be adaptive as it may enable the tadpoles to maintain high growth in time constrained habitats. I also found that breeding phenology affected latitudinal variation in growth, development and anti-predator strategies. Northern R. temporaria tadpoles were phenotypically more similar to southern tadpoles when breeding occurred early, suggesting that part of the latitudinal variation is plastic and affected by yearly variation in phenology. When time stress was manipulated by delaying hatching, tadpoles were able to compensate by increasing their development and growth during the larval stage, decreasing the cost of the delayed development. In the final study, I found that northern tadpoles showed stronger compensatory growth during the larval stage than southern tadpoles after being delayed by low food, however, temperature manipulation did not induce differences in the compensatory responses. In general, my results highlight the roles of both environmental and genetic variation in determining individual growth strategies.