Angelman syndrome (AS) results from a lack of maternal contribution from chromosome 15q11-13, arising from de novo deletion in most cases or rarely from uniparental disomy. These families are associated with a low recurrence risk. However, in a minority of families, more than one child is affected. No deletion has been found in these families, except one. The mode of inheritance in these families is autosomal dominant modified by imprinting. Sporadic cases, with no observable deletion, therefore pose a counselling dilemma as there could be a recurrence risk as high as 50%. We present a series of 93 AS patients, showing the relative contribution of these different genetic mechanisms. Eighty-one AS patients were sporadic cases while 12 cases came from six families. Sixty cases had deletions in 15q11-13 detected by a set of highly polymorphic (CA)n repeats markers and conventional RFLPs. Ten sporadic cases plus all 12 familial cases had no detectable deletion. In addition, two cases of de novo deletions occurred in a chromosome 15 carrying a pericentric inversion. In one of these the AS child had a cousin with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) arising from a de novo deletion in an inv(15) inherited from his father. One case arose from a maternal balanced t(9;15)(p24;q15) translocation. There were three cases of uniparental disomy. Five patients were monoallelic for all loci across the minimal AS critical region, but the presence of a deletion cannot be confirmed. In familial cases, all affected sibs inherited the same maternal chromosome 15 markers for the region 15q11-13. Two cases were observed with a de novo deletion starting close to the locus D15S11 (IR4-2R), providing evidence for the development of classical AS with smaller deletions. Cytogenetic analysis proved limited in its ability to detect deletions, detecting only 42 out of 60 cases. However, cytogenetic analysis is still essential to detect chromosomal abnormalities other than deletions such as inversions and balanced translocations since both have an increased risk for deletions. A staged diagnostic strategy based on the use of highly informative (CA)n repeat markers is proposed.


It has been generally accepted based on the finding of combination coccospheres in field samples that Turrisphaera arctica and Papposphaera sarion are alternate life-cycle phases of a single species. However, while recently revisiting P. sarion it became evident that the Turrisphaera phase of this species is not identical with T. arctica but rather is an undescribed species of Turrisphaera. The most conspicuous diagnostic feature of T. arctica, an asymmetrical and tilted hypertrophy of the distal tube opening in circum-flagellar coccoliths, was hinted at in the first description of the taxon. However, focus was here on the overall similarity between T. borealis and T. arctica to the extent that the rather conspicuous difference between the two taxa was not clearly recognized by the authors of the taxon, nor by any researcher who has worked on these species since then.We present herematerial of T. arctica from various Arctic locations (West Greenland, NE Greenland, Svalbard) that completely matches the type material from Resolute Bay,Cornwallis Island. This material additionally comprised (NE Greenland) large numbers of combination coccospheres that clearly indicate that T. arctica shares a life history with an as yet undescribed species of Papposphaera. This allows us to emend the description of T. arctica including also its heterococcolithophore phase, and in this context making use of the combination P. arctica which was established decades ago, yet here with the specific comment that P. sarion is no longer a valid synonym of P. arctica.


We provide a comprehensive overview of many recent algorithms for approximate inference in Gaussian process models for probabilistic binary classification. The relationships between several approaches are elucidated theoretically, and the properties of the different algorithms are corroborated by experimental results. We examine both 1) the quality of the predictive distributions and 2) the suitability of the different marginal likelihood approximations for model selection (selecting hyperparameters) and compare to a gold standard based on MCMC. Interestingly, some methods produce good predictive distributions although their marginal likelihood approximations are poor. Strong conclusions are drawn about the methods: The Expectation Propagation algorithm is almost always the method of choice unless the computational budget is very tight. We also extend existing methods in various ways, and provide unifying code implementing all approaches.


Introduction: Menstrual hygiene and the socio-cultural taboo for its management was and is an issue that is insufficiently acknowledged and has not received adequate attention in the reproductive health and other related aspects. This study was undertaken with the objective to determine the prevailing knowledge, hygiene and socio cultural practices during menstruation among adolescent school girls. Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out 166 adolescent school girls aged 11-19 years studying at secondary level from 5 government schools of Kailali district using selfadministered semi-structured questionnaire. Results: The mean age at menarche was 12.94 years. More than one fourth of the respondents had known about menstruation before their menarche, the principle sources being friends and mothers. Nearly 5% of the respondents perceived it as disease and curse or sin. The most common health problem faced during menstruation was dysmenorrhea. Single-use commercial sanitary pad as absorbent material during menstruation was very poor. All of the respondents practiced some form of restriction or exclusion and the commonest one experienced by all was absent from religious activities. During menarche more than 10% of them had slept at cow sheds or huts which show that the "Chaupadi Pratha" still prevails in some of the community. Conclusion: Though the knowledge seems satisfactory; the practices are not optimal for proper hygiene. The local customs and religious traditions and taboos concerning menstruation have added challenges to young girls to manage their period properly.


Cell resistance for molten salt electrorefining of spent nuclear fuel under various electrode configurations was investigated by using the two-dimensional finite element method. Three electrorefining cell configurations were evaluated; (1) a liquid Cd anode and a solid cathode made of low carbon steel with or without a ceramic plate at the bottom, (2) a liquid Cd anode and a liquid Cd cathode, and (3) two anodes in the form of a perforated steel basket filled with spent nuclear fuel and two solid cathodes, in two different arrangements. The calculated results agreed reasonably well with previously obtained experimental data. The effect of polarization on the cell resistance was found to be small for a typical uranium concentration in the molten salt electrolyte and the liquid Cd anode. The calculation results are helpful in interpreting experimental data, and a correlation formula was developed that may be useful in estimating the cell resistance of new cell designs.


We develop a theory describing density profile of the semi-flexible polymers absorbed onto a planar surface. The theoretical analysis consists of two parts. As a first part, we calculate a density profile of the adsorbed polymers by developing an extension of the Bethe-Peierls approximation to the case of nonhomogeneous systems. This approach relies on the combination of the single chain adsorption theory and the lattice version of the self-consistent field theory. Semi-flexibility of a chain is described by incorporating a finite coordination number of the lattice into the consideration, in the spirit of the previous Silberberg approach. The developed lattice theory incorporates the interaction between nearest-neighbor pairs of segments and finite chain length. The theory is completely mapped into the Scheutjens-Fleer theory in the limit of infinite coordination number. As a second part of the developed approach, we calculate the configurational entropy to investigate how the density structure of the semi-flexible polymers near the surface relates to possible reduction of glass transition temperature near nonabsorbing surface and enhancement near the strongly attractive surface.


It is observed in the operation of the Sheet Plasma Negative Ion Source (SPNIS), that the sheet configuration of the plasma cannot be maintained at pressures above a certain limit. For instance hydrogen plasma disperses and shows spatial inhomogeneity at pressures above 0.05 Torr, while at pressures higher than 0.01 Torr the same occurs for argon plasma. The cause of the dispersion is not understood, as yet. This paper is the first of a series of attempts to find the root of the dispersing phenomenon. Focus was done on Streaming Instability as a probable cause.


Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities are often not included in traditional mental health treatment services due to beliefs that these individuals cannot benefit from mental health counseling and that mental health clinicians are not capable of treating this population. Some research exists that discusses techniques and interventions recommended to serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in mental health; however, there is little information on the specific counselors who are willing and able to support this population. A qualitative methodology was utilized to examine the phenomenon of mental health practitioners with experience serving individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Five clinicians participated in the study. Five rich participant narratives were captured as a result of those interviews. From those, 52 themes were extrapolated to create a composite depiction of counselor experiences, and four exemplary components of these experiences were deduced: adapting to differences, systemic barriers to services, supporting the support system, and universal human value. ©2017 by Syard Evans All Rights Reserved


This study questions the relevance of advertising in hedonic tests. A consumer experiment (N = 305) points out that the outcomes of a hedonic test of three different recipes vary significantly according to whether they are preceded by a real TV commercial, a simple presentation of the advertising concept or only the name of the tasted brand. Four experimental designs indicate different preference rankings, which have distinctive managerial implications. In particular, this study points out the need to integrate advertising into hedonic tests at a very early stage of new product development process. Limitations and future research avenues are finally discussed.


Abstract Community capacity building is widely acknowledged as an important tourism development strategy. Building capacity of communities to effectively address our problematic issues and planning of community development is often required to analyze current status of community development with respect to tourism development. Community capacity building is a necessary ingredient for success of community development. Tourism development and building the capacity for local communities need to progress hand in hand. Community capacity building programs help underdeveloped communities to improve their ability to participate in the tourism decision-making processes. They encourage community involvement, and provide the tools that enable them to do so. The purpose of this paper is to explore the contributions of community capacity building to achieving tourism development. In this study, community capacity building represents the potential of a community to act in tourism development.


This study evaluates the economics of establishing a residential natural gas network in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province (EP) to cater to the household demand for natural gas. The paper focuses primarily on household use of natural gas for cooking. Additional economic analysis of other household uses – as air conditioning, space and water heating – is incorporated. Demand streams of various consuming segments are analysed to estimate the volume of the daily natural gas supply by the network. Economic analysis employs financial net present value methodology to define the cost effectiveness of the proposed network. Economic rent and opportunity costs of utilising other sources of energy and their efficiency differences are plugged into the economic equation. The quantity of natural gas supply for the targeted 322,000 households located in the EP is estimated at 23.2 MMscfd. The effect of the government subsidy of natural gas prices is quantified. The study concludes that the project has a positive net present value – at a range of natural gas fuel prices and required rate of returns of future incomes – during the life span of the project.


The globalization of the national food markets raises a number of difficult legal and political problems. In response, national governments have adopted a wide range of regulatory measures which are not only aimed at the protection of the environment and human health and safety but may also constitute attractive vehicles for protectionism. The Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement) was therefore specifically designed to regulate possible abuses of sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) regulations. Although, the most important part of the SPS Agreement relates to risk assessment disciplines, this article argues that it is legitimate to speak about risk management dimension of the Agreement. The substantive analysis of the SPS Agreement shows that these disciplines can be identified while their recognition helps to link the text of the Agreement with the practice of national regulators and documents of international standard setting bodies. The article begins from the discussion of basic principles of risk analysis, including risk assessment, risk management and risk communication. In order to background the following discussion, it examines relevant passages from EC - Hormones, case which materially shaped the understanding of risk management disciplines of the SPS Agreement. Then the author analyzes the relevant provisions of the Agreement, including concept of an appropriate level of protection as well as specific risk management disciplines, finding some developments of the case law disappointing. On that basis, the author attempts to draw overall conclusions on the risk management dimension of the SPS Agreement, noting that the overall assessment of the SPS Agreement as far as risk management is concerned will only be possible after they are addressed in the case law.


Based on optical-path-length spectroscopy, we present a method for determining optical diffusion coefficients that does not require a priori knowledge about the physical properties of inherent interfaces. Comparisons are made with both standard theoretical estimates for bulk diffusion and with traditional approaches relying on surface corrections.


Brute-force implementation of the extended Kalman (EK) filter in realistic ocean models is not possible because of its prohibitive cost. Different degraded forms of the EK filter, which basically reduce the dimension of the system through some kind of projection onto a low dimensional subspace, have been proposed (Cane et al. 1996; Dee 1990; Fukumori and Malanotte-Rizzoli 1995b; Hoang et al. 1997). The goal of this paper is to study the usefulness of the evolution in time of these reduced state spaces. This is based on the comparison, both from the theoretical and practical points of view, of the singular evolutive extended Kalman (SEEK) filter introduced by Pham et al. (1997), and the reduced-order extended Kalman (ROEK) filter introduced by Cane et al. (1996). To reduce the cost of the ROEK filter, we further approximate the nonlinear dynamics of the system by a first order autoregressive stochastic model. The assimilation results of twin experiments, which we have conducted in a realistic setting of the OPA model in the tropical Pacific ocean, seem to indicate that the evolution of the reduced state space is beneficial during the model unstable periods, where the reduced space may not well represent the variability of the model.


Biofilm formation on abiotic surfaces initiates in response to environmental cues, and the same is true for attachment to the plant surfaces. In this study the detection of biofilm formation of some Pseudomonas fluorescens strains was done indirectly by determining the extent of CV-stained cells attached to a surface. Pseudomonas fluorescens UTPF98 was selected because of its great ability of biofilm formation. And then the stages of biofilm formation (reversible and irreversible attachment, microcolony formation and macrocolony formation with exopolysacharid (EPS) production) in mentioned strain was investigated on glass slides. At last the effect of some nutritional factors like cations (Mg 2+ , B 3+ , Cu 2+ , Co 2+ , Mo 6+ , Zn 2+ , Mn 2+ , Ca 2 + and Fe 2+ ), carbon sources (arabinose, rhamnose, glucose, mannose, galactose and xylose), aminoacids (aspartic acid, asparagine, phenylalanine, leucine, threonine, proline, glutamic acid, glutamine, arginine, tyrosine, histidine, alanine, lysine, isoleucine and glycine) and phosphorus on biofilm formation was investigated in this study. Cations had various effects on biofilm formation. All carbon sources and aminoacids tested promoted biofilm formation. In contrast, phosphorus reduced biofilm formation. These results clearly show that nutritional status of the medium can influence biofilm formation in vitro. For successful biocontrol by fluorescent pseudomonads, one needs to understand which and how nutritional status affects the biofilm formation in potential biocontrol products.


The present study was conducted to compare dietary intakes and percentage of body fat between adolescent female runners and sedentary adolescent females. Thirty white girls, aged 15-18 years, served as subjects. Twenty had run between 20 and 55 miles per week for the past 1-5 years. The ten controls had not exercised for at least the past year other than in physical education classes. Nutrient intake was analyzed from 3-day dietary records. Percentage of body fat was estimated using hydrostatic weighing and skinfold thicknesses measured at the right triceps and calf. No significant differences were found between the 20 runners and the 10 controls in intakes of energy, calcium, or iron. Although daily caloric intakes were not higher for the runners, the two groups differed in percentage of body fat; the mean value for the runners was significantly lower than the control group's value. Both groups consumed greater than recommended percentages of fat and less than recommended percentages of carbohydrates. In...


Adequate concentration, exposure time and distribution uniformity of activated fumigant gases are prerequisites for successful soil fumigation. Field experiments were conducted to evaluate gas phase distributions of methyl isothiocyanate (MITC) and chloropicrin (CP) in two forest-tree nurseries. Concentrations of MITC and CP in soil air were measured from replicated microplots that received dazomet, metam-sodium and CP. Half of the plots were covered with high-density polyethylene tarp immediately after fumigation; the other half were not covered but received daily sprinkler irrigation for 1 week to create and maintain a water seal. The magnitude of MITC concentrations was similar between nurseries for metam-sodium in both tarp and water seal treatments and for dazomet in the tarp treatment. Consistently greater MITC and CP concentrations were found in the upper 30 cm of soil in the tarped plots compared with the water-sealed plots. Despite potential environmental and economic benefits with the water seal method, tarp covers were more reliable for achieving and maintaining higher MITC and CP concentrations and less prone to variations due to irrigation/rain, soil bulk density and other environmental conditions.


Wayfinding is the study of how humans use a variety of informational media to orient themselves and navigate in a space, such as a library. This multi-method case study tested the applicability of a wayfinding framework developed in architecture to a public library environment. Research methods included unobtrusive observation of a random sample of users' wayfinding in the facility and interviews with a convenience sample of users to discuss their wayfinding behavior. Patrons used various wayfinding behaviors in the facility, some corresponding to the framework, but other behaviors did not fit into the existing framework and not all aspects of the framework were observed or expressed. Additional research is necessary to investigate more fully the degree to which the framework validly describes how library users wayfind. Results have value for librarians, architects and interior designers, all of whom may apply findings toward their work designing facilities that are intuitive to navigate.


A History of the Republic of Biafra-Samuel Fury Childs Daly 2020-07-31 The Republic of Biafra lasted for less than three years, but the war over its secession would contort Nigeria for decades to come. Samuel Fury Childs Daly examines the history of the Nigerian Civil War and its aftermath from an uncommon vantage point – the courtroom. Wartime Biafra was glutted with firearms, wracked by famine, and administered by a government that buckled under the weight of the conflict. In these dangerous conditions, many people survived by engaging in fraud, extortion, and armed violence. When the fighting ended in 1970, these survival tactics endured, even though Biafra itself disappeared from the map. Based on research using an original archive of legal records and oral histories, Daly catalogues how people navigated conditions of extreme hardship on the war front, and shows how the conditions of the Nigerian Civil War paved the way for the country's long experience of crime that was to follow.


Strong and abundant magnetic anomalies imaged beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet by aerogeophysical surveys have been interpreted as evidence of widespread Late Cenozoic basaltic volcanism, perhaps even a large igneous province. Petrological and geochemical composition of subglacial sediment samples from West Antarctica supports crustal provenance and does not provide positive evidence for the existence of the proposed mafic Late Cenozoic large igneous province. The only two identified basaltic pebbles, out of a total of >500 examined pebbles, are of Mesozoic to Cambrian age. We conjecture that the subglacial large igneous province does not exist or is blanketed by an at least Miocene age sedimentary drape.


Gliders were deployed for the first time in the Agulhas Current region to investigate processes of interactions between western boundary currents and shelf waters. Continuous observations from the gliders in water depths of 100–1000 m and over a period of 1 month provide the first high‐resolution observations of the Agulhas Current's inshore front. The observations collected in a nonmeandering Agulhas Current show the presence of submesoscale cyclonic eddies, generated at the inshore boundary of the Agulhas Current. The submesoscale cyclones are often associated with warm water plumes, which extend from their western edge and exhibit strong northeastward currents. These features are a result of shear instabilities and extract their energy from the mean Agulhas Current jet.


Abstract. Source apportionment analysis was conducted with positive matrix factorization (PMF) and principal component analysis (PCA) methods using concentrations of speciated mercury (Hg), i.e., gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), gaseous oxidized mercury (GOM), and particulate-bound mercury (PBM), and other air pollutants collected at Kejimkujik National Park, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2009 and 2010. The results were largely consistent between the 2 years for both methods. The same four source factors were identified in each year using PMF method. In both years, factor photochemistry and re-emission had the largest contributions to atmospheric Hg, while the contributions of combustion emission and industrial sulfur varied slightly between the 2 years. Four components were extracted with air pollutants only in each year using PCA method. Consistencies between the results of PMF and PCA include (1) most or all PMF factors overlapped with PCA components, (2) both methods suggest strong impact of photochemistry but little association between ambient Hg and sea salt, and (3) shifting of PMF source profiles and source contributions from one year to another was echoed in PCA. Inclusion of meteorological parameters led to identification of an additional component, Hg wet deposition in PCA, while it did not affect the identification of other components. The PMF model performance was comparable in 2009 and 2010. Among the three Hg forms, the agreements between model-reproduced and observed annual mean concentrations were excellent for GEM, very good for PBM, and acceptable for GOM. However, on a daily basis, the agreement was very good for GEM but poor for GOM and PBM. Sensitivity tests suggest that increasing sample size by imputation is not effective in improving model performance, while reducing the fraction of concentrations below method detection limit, by either scaling GOM and PBM to higher concentrations or combining them to reactive mercury, is effective. Most of the data treatment options considered had little impact on the source identification or contribution.


An air-stable formate dehydrogenase (FDH), an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidation of formate to carbon dioxide, was purified from the sulfate reducing organism Desulfovibrio gigas (D. gigas) NCIB 9332. D. gigas FDH is a heterodimeric protein [alpha (92 kDa) and beta (29 kDa) subunits] and contains 7 +/- 1 Fe/protein and 0.9 +/- 0.1 W/protein. Selenium was not detected. The UV/visible absorption spectrum of D. gigas FDH is typical of an iron-sulfur protein. Analysis of pterin nucleotides yielded a content of 1.3 +/- 0.1 guanine monophosphate/mol of enzyme, which suggests a tungsten coordination with two molybdopterin guanine dinucleotide cofactors. Both Mössbauer spectroscopy performed on D. gigas FDH grown in a medium enriched with (57)Fe and EPR studies performed in the native and fully reduced state of the protein confirmed the presence of two [4Fe-4S] clusters. Variable-temperature EPR studies showed the presence of two signals compatible with an atom in a d(1) configuration albeit with an unusual relaxation behavior as compared to the one generally observed for W(V) ions.


There is a strong tendency in modern moral philosophy to impose restrictions on the range of desires that are to count as genuinely contributive to the desirer's welfare. Perhaps the most frequent among such proposals is that only appropriately "informed" or "rational" desires are to count. I shall argue that the philosophical assumptions that underlie such suggestions suffer from the influence of equilibrium methodology and thus fall prey to the same shortcomings as it does. I shall also point to the similarities between the Austrian approach to rationality and the concept of "satisficing" (under a particular interpretation), which entered moral philosophy from the rational choice literature. Finally, I shall note that one crucial aspect of rationality that is ordinarily taken by the Austrians to be implicit in human action (i.e., the ability to grasp the logical relationship between the concepts that comprise the content of one's aims and desires) should not be considered as such.


We study uniform random permutations in an important class of patternavoiding permutations: the separable permutations. We describe the asymptotics of the number of occurrences of any fixed given pattern in such a random permutation in terms of the Brownian excursion. In the recent terminology of permutons, our work can be interpreted as the convergence of uniform random separable permutations towards a "Brownian separable permuton".


A practical introduction to the necessity of competitive intelligence for smarter business decisions-from a leading CI expert and speaker In Competitive Intelligence Advantage, Seena Sharp, founder of one of the first Competitive Intelligence firms in the US, provides her expert analysis on the issues and benefits of CI for today's businesses. CI is critical for making smarter business decisions and reducing risks when formulating strategies, leading to more profits and fewer mistakes. This is a practical guide that explains what CI is, why data is not intelligence, why competitor intelligence is a weak sibling to competitive intelligence, when to use it, how to find the most useful information and turn it into actual intelligence, and how to present findings in the most convincing manner. Importantly, Sharp argues that businesses would benefit from shifting their perspective on CI from viewing it as a cost to viewing it as an investment that saves money and provides immediate value. Author Seena Sharp is a noted CI expert who established Sharp Market Intelligence in 1979 Addresses all the most common myths and misconceptions about CI Includes more than sixty examples of when to use CI Completely explains the ins and outs of CI, and why your company will act faster and more aggressively with CI Competitive intelligence is a management tool that is misunderstood and underestimated, yet results in numerous benefits. If you are a senior level executive or operate a business-and you aren't tapping the power of CI to improve your decision making-you are missing a potent advantage. Book Description Publication Date:  October 19, 2009 | Series:  Wiley Clique Aqui


In liver steatosis (i.e. fatty liver), hepatocytes accumulate many large neutral lipid storage organelles known as lipid droplets (LDs). LDs are important in the maintenance of energy homeostasis, but the signaling mechanisms that stimulate LD metabolism in hepatocytes are poorly defined. In adipocytes, catecholamines target the β-adrenergic (β-AR)/cAMP pathway to activate cytosolic lipases and induce their recruitment to the LD surface. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine whether hepatocytes, like adipocytes, also undergo cAMP-mediated lipolysis in response to β-AR stimulation. Using primary rat hepatocytes and human hepatoma cells, we found that treatment with the β-AR agent isoproterenol caused substantial LD loss via activation of cytosolic lipases adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL) and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL). β-Adrenergic stimulation rapidly activated PKA, which led to the phosphorylation of ATGL and HSL and their recruitment to the LD surface. To test whether this β-AR-dependent lipolysis pathway was altered in a model of alcoholic fatty liver, primary hepatocytes from rats fed a 6-week EtOH-containing Lieber-DeCarli diet were treated with cAMP agonists. Compared with controls, EtOH-exposed hepatocytes showed a drastic inhibition in β-AR/cAMP-induced LD breakdown and the phosphorylation of PKA substrates, including HSL. This observation was supported in VA-13 cells, an EtOH-metabolizing human hepatoma cell line, which displayed marked defects in both PKA activation and isoproterenol-induced ATGL translocation to the LD periphery. In summary, these findings suggest that β-AR stimulation mobilizes cytosolic lipases for LD breakdown in hepatocytes, and perturbation of this pathway could be a major consequence of chronic EtOH insult leading to fatty liver.


Active disease surveillance during epidemics is of utmost importance in detecting and eliminating new cases quickly, and targeting such surveillance to high-risk individuals is considered more efficient than applying a random strategy. Contact tracing has been used as a form of at-risk targeting, and a variety of mathematical models have indicated that it is likely to be highly efficient. However, for fast-moving epidemics, resource constraints limit the ability of the authorities to perform, and follow up, contact tracing effectively. As an alternative, we present a novel real-time Bayesian statistical methodology to determine currently undetected (occult) infections. For the UK foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic of 2007, we use real-time epidemic data synthesized with previous knowledge of FMD outbreaks in the UK to predict which premises might have been infected, but remained undetected, at any point during the outbreak. This provides both a framework for targeting surveillance in the face of limited resources and an indicator of the current severity and spatial extent of the epidemic. We anticipate that this methodology will be of substantial benefit in future outbreaks, providing a compromise between targeted manual surveillance and random or spatially targeted strategies.


We propose here a computational model of school segregation that is based on an ABM model of Schelling-type for residential segregation.

Model description

Our world consists of agents, resources, and locations. The locations are defined by a two dimensional grid with 100x100 locations, embedded on a torus. Each location can hold a household (an agent) or a school (a resource), but some locations are left empty to allow for movement across neighborhoods or schools.
The geographical space is divided into Voronoi cells. To generate the Voronoi diagram we use randomly assigned locations for the schools as so-called "generator" points. Each cell contains exactly one school, located at its generator point. Each school has a maximum number of students, equal to the number of locations in its corresponding cell. Because each cell actually defines the geographic region that is nearer to the focal school than to any other school, we call it school neighborhood or school 'catchment area'.
The model allows for two types of dynamical evolutions, which we call residential model and school model, respectively. In the residential model, each location defines a local residential neighborhood, modeled as a diamond-shaped neighborhood, approximating a circular region around the residential location. We consider that a location belongs to the local residential region if the distance between its location and the center of the local residential region is smaller or equal to the radius. When using a radius r = 1.5 location sizes, one finds the classical Moore neighborhood with exactly eight locations.
Each household belongs to one ethnic group and has exactly one child of school age. A household has an ethnic preference for the ethnic composition of its school or residential neighborhood. We use for the ethnic preference a single-peaked linear function that maps the local proportion of members of the same group on the attractiveness of the school or residential location for an agent. The ethnic preference is considered to be the same for all agents belonging to a specific ethnic group.
Agents can evaluate a school not only in terms of its ethnic composition, but also in terms of the distance between their residential location and the school's location. The distance preference (D) represents the "nearness" of the school, implemented as the mirror image of the geographical distance between residential location of the household and the school. The distance preference is modeled as a linear falling function with its maximum value 1 at the agent's residential location and minimum value 0 at a maximum distance, after which the function value remains null.
An agent's utility U for the school chosen is obtained from a Cobb-Douglas utility function. Technically,
 U = P^α * D^(1-α)
where α is a parameter which controls how much weight is put on the ethnicity preference (P) relative to the distance preference (D).
In the residential model, agents can change where they live and can choose between a set of available residential locations with known location and local ethnic composition. Each evolution cycle, a given number of agents are tested whether their satisfaction with respect to their local neighborhood is smaller than a given threshold (T). If their level of satisfaction is smaller than the given threshold, the agents will move to the first available location where their level of satisfaction with respect to the location's local neighborhood is above a threshold. If no suitable location has been found within a maximum of tries, the agent will move to the first location where his satisfaction level becomes larger than his current satisfaction level.
In the school-choice model, the residential location is fixed and agents face the choice of sending their child to one out of a set of available schools with a known location and ethnic composition. The evolution of the system takes place in a similar way as for the residential model. If the agent's level of satisfaction is smaller than the given threshold, the agent will move its child to the first schools with an available spot, where their level of satisfaction with respect to the distance and ethnic composition is above a threshold. If no suitable school has been found within the available schools, the agent will move its child to the first school where his level of satisfaction increases.
Source code
The model is provided in the form a Visual Studio Project created using Microsoft Visual C++ Express 2010. The entry point for the console application is schelling_model2.cpp.


The Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) is a leading UK HIV and sexual health organization, and community outreach and support remain a key tenet of the charity's philosophy. Outreach work includes campaign drives in bars, clubs and saunas, peer-led workshops, support groups, condom distribution in community venues and one-to-one intervention programmes to help raise HIV/AIDS awareness. But what happens to community activism and outreach when the community one seeks to engage moves online? In this article, we report on a study capturing the experiences of workers engaged in THT's digital outreach service, Netreach. Using ethnographic and other qualitative methods, we identify the shifting nature of health promotion outreach work and the changes in expert–client relationship that occur when community outreach takes place on digital platforms. We identify how issues of (dis)embodiment, expertise and cultural capital play a role in determining the success – or failure – of online outreach work.


Sudden aspen decline (SAD), affecting Populus tremuloides, was first observed in Colorado in 2004. By 2008 it affected at least 220,000 ha, an estimated 17% of the aspen cover type in the state. In southwestern Colorado, we examined site and stand features in paired healthy and damaged plots to assess the effects of SAD on aspen and to identify factors associated with decline. Root mortality increased significantly with recent crown loss. Consequently, density of regeneration did not increase as the overstory deteriorated, and regeneration that originated since 2002 decreased significantly in stands with moderate to severe SAD. However, mortality of regeneration did not increase with that of the overstory. Remeasurement of a subset of plots after 1–2 yrs showed significant increases in severity. Contrary to expectations, overstory age and diameter were not related to SAD severity as measured by recent crown loss or mortality. Severity of SAD was inversely, but weakly, related to basal area, stem slenderness, and site index, and positively opulus tremuloides related to upper slope positions. This is consistent with moisture stress as an underlying factor. To test the role of climate as an inciting factor for SAD, a landscape-scale climate model was used to compare moisture status of declining and healthy aspen at the height of the warm drought in water year 2002. Polygons identified as damaged aspen in the 2008 aerial survey had greater moisture deficits than healthy aspen in the 2002 water year. SAD has led to loss of aspen cover in some stands, and is occurring in areas where early loss of aspen due to climate change has been predicted. Further warm, dry growing seasons nce o will likely lead to recurre


Although there are numerous and significant differences between the theories of scientific growth and change proposed by Kuhn, Lakatos, and Laudan, they all hold that specific scientific theories should be viewed as constitutive of more comprehensive theories. Kuhn calls those more general theories 'paradigms', Lakatos labels them 'research programmes' and Laudan refers to them as 'research traditions'. They all argue that scientists are much more willing to give up the specific theory within a given research programme rather than the programme itself, and that individual theories should be viewed as attempts to increase the overall explanatory power of the more general theories, since the ultimate concern of the scientist is with the success of the general rather than the specific theory. When a basic theory or research programme is confronted with severe criticism, proponents attempt to protect the hard core or central elements of their programme through the invention of auxiliary hypotheses. Good auxiliary hypotheses adequately answer the objections for which they are designed, and suggest new avenues of research. In 1928, Arthur Holmes provided proponents of continental drift theory with an auxiliary hypothesis which afforded them a badly needed account of the forces responsible for continental drift. Although Holmes' proposal was not ultimately correct, it was the first plausible alternative offered by an exponent of the continental drift research programme.


The erosion wear due to raindrop plays a vital role in the service life of wind turbine components especially blades. Furthermore, the rain impact angle and the environmental conditions having a major impact on erosion wear. In the present work, the rain erosion performance of glass fiber reinforced polyester (GFRP) blade material in offshore and onshore environmental conditions has been studied. A whirling arm test rig was created and used to conduct the erosion tests on both offshore and onshore conditions. To simulate the offshore and onshore environmental conditions, experiments were carried out using both fresh and saltwater. The trail runs were carried out for time duration (30 – 90 min) at different impact angles (0° - 90°) by running the whirling arm tester at different impact velocities (30-70 m/s). During the experimentation, the impact velocity was varied from 30 – 70 m/s. The impact angle was taken as 0°, 30°, 45°, 60°, and 90° respectively. The results showed that erosion wear in the offshore conditions was more in all the cases as compared to onshore conditions. Furthermore, the maximum mass loss was at 45° impact angles for both conditions, which was further endorsed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) analysis. Very little work has been reported on optimization of erosion wear response of Offshore and Onshore wind turbines by using different design of experiment techniques. The erosion testing reveals that the GFRP blades exhibit a ductile erosion mechanism which was further explained by using three-dimensional surface plots with the help of Image J software.


Recent developments in microwave-accelerated solventless organic syntheses are summarised. This expeditious and solvent-free approach involves the exposure of neat reactants to microwave (MW) irradiation in conjunction with the use of supported reagents or catalysts which are primarily of mineral origin. The salient features of these high yield protocols are the enhanced reaction rates, greater selectivity and the experimental ease of manipulation. Among other reagents recently described in the literature on this eco-friendly green approach, the use of recyclable mineral oxides or supported reagents from our laboratory such as Fe(NO3)3–clay (clayfen), Cu(NO3)2–clay (claycop), NH4NO3–clay (clayan), NH2OH–clay, PhI(OAc)2–alumina, NaIO4–silica, CrO3–alumina, MnO2–silica, NaBH4–clay, etc. are highlighted in MW-promoted deprotection, condensation, cyclization, rearrangement, oxidation and reduction reactions including the rapid one-pot assembly of heterocyclic compounds from in situ generated intermediates.


Aims - Since the inception of the NHS, an ever-present challenge has been to improve integration of care within the health care system and with social care. Many people have complex and ongoing care needs and require support from multiple agencies and various professionals. But care is often fragmented and uncoordinated, with no one agency taking overall responsibility, so it is often left to individuals and their families to negotiate the system as best they can. South Somersets Symphony is designed to establish greater collaboration between primary, community, acute and social care, particularly for people with complex conditions. Methods - We examine patterns of health and social care utilisation and costs for the local population to identify which groups of people would most benefit from better integrated care. We analyse data to identify groups of people according to the frequency of occurrence of underlying conditions; the cost of care; and utilisation of services across diverse settings. The empirical identification strategy is supplemented by local intelligence gained through workshops with health and social care professionals about the appropriateness of existing patterns of provision. We employ two-part regression models to explain variability in individual health and social costs, in total and in each setting. Data - The Symphony Project has an anonymised individual-level dataset, spanning primary, community, acute, mental health and social care. This includes activity, costs, clinical conditions, age, sex and ward of residence for the entire population of 114,874 people in 2012. Each persons morbidity profile is described using the United Health's Episode Treatment Groups (ETG), which build upon ICD and Read codes. Results - We identify the frequency of conditions and co-morbidity profile of the entire population and, for the most frequent conditions, we assess utilization and costs of care across health and social care settings. For example, for those with asthma and diabetes, hospital costs account for the largest proportion of costs; in contrast, costs for those with dementia occur mostly in social care, mental health care and community care settings. For the population as a whole, we find that costs of health and social care are driven more by an individuals morbidity profile than by their age. Data for those with the most frequent conditions were reviewed by local health and social care professionals and managers. It was decided to undertake more detailed analyses for those with diabetes or dementia. 5,676 people are recorded as having diabetes in South Somerset, with hypertension being the most common comorbidity. For those with a sole diagnosis of diabetes, costs are around £1,000 on average but as people are recorded as having more diagnoses, average costs increase progressively. Costs are also higher for older people and women. People with dementia account for only 0.92% of the South Somerset population, but the average annual cost for the 1,062 people with dementia is around £12,000. A high proportion of these costs are related to the provision of mental health, social and continuing care. Costs are higher the more co-morbidities a person has, and for people from more deprived areas. Age and gender do not explain variation in costs for people with dementia. Conclusions - This work forms a basis for identifying groups that would most benefit from improved integrated care, which might be facilitated by integrated financial arrangements and better pathway management. The more co-morbidities that a person has, the more likely they are to require care across diverse settings, and the higher their costs. Our analysis identifies those groups of the population which are the highest users of services by activity and cost and provides baseline information to allow budgetary arrangements to be developed for these targeted groups.


Powder metallurgy is a conventional technique for making engineering articles from powders. Main objective is to produce final products with the highest possible uniform density, which depends on the initial loose powder characteristics. Producing, handling, characterizing and compacting materials in loose powder form are part of the manufacturing processes. Density of loose metallic or ceramic powder is an important parameter for die design. Loose powder density is required for calculating the exact mass of powder to fill the die cavity for producing intended green density of the powder compact. To fulfill this requirement of powder metallurgical processing, a loose powder density meter as per ASTM standards is designed and fabricated for measurement of density. The density of free flowing metallic powders can be determined using Hall flow meter funnel and density cup of 25 cm3 volume. Density of metal powders like cobalt, manganese, spherical bronze and pure iron is measured and results are obtained with 99.9% accuracy.


This paper addresses the question of whether the common monetary policy of the European Central Bank is transmitted asymmetrically within the Euro area. To this end, we employ a Markov switching model to identify a credit channel of monetary policy transmission and investigate whether the credit channel is active or passive across four Euro-area countries (France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands) as well as the United Kingdom at any given point in time. We find the timing and the duration of the regime switches into and out of the credit channel regime to be fairly synchronous for France, Germany and Italy, while being more heterogeneous for both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The asymmetry of the credit channel documented in this paper suggests that the heterogeneity of the monetary transmission mechanism is still very much present in the Euro area. This heterogeneity poses serious policy problems for the European Central Bank (ECB), as monetary policy continues to exert differential impacts across individual member countries of the monetary union. Also, it constitutes a convincing reason of why the ECB, the European Commission and a number of national governments actively push for further liberalization of financial markets in Europe.


Sperm maturation requires keeping protamine 2 dephosphorylated to enable tight DNA packaging. Protamine dephosphorylation for fertility During the final stage of spermatogenesis, protamines tightly package DNA in the mature sperm. Itoh et al. generated mice deficient in the heat shock protein and chaperone Hspa4l, which is implicated in spermatogenesis. The mice were infertile with malformed sperm heads, a phenotype similar to that of mice deficient in the phosphatase Ppp1cc2. The authors showed that Hspa4l was required to release Ppp1cc2 from a complex with other chaperones, enabling its translocation to chromatin. In vitro studies showed that Ppp1cc2 dephosphorylated protamine 2 at Ser56. Expression of the unphosphorylatable protamine 2 S56A mutant reversed the infertility of Hspa4l-deficient mice, suggesting that the dephosphorylation of protamine 2 at Ser56 is important for its role in sperm maturation. The posttranslational modification of histones is crucial in spermatogenesis, as in other tissues; however, during spermiogenesis, histones are replaced with protamines, which are critical for the tight packaging of the DNA in sperm cells. Protamines are also posttranslationally modified by phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, which prompted our investigation of the underlying mechanisms and biological consequences of their regulation. On the basis of a screen that implicated the heat shock protein Hspa4l in spermatogenesis, we generated mice deficient in Hspa4l (Hspa4l-null mice), which showed male infertility and the malformation of sperm heads. These phenotypes are similar to those of Ppp1cc-deficient mice, and we found that the amount of a testis- and sperm-specific isoform of the Ppp1cc phosphatase (Ppp1cc2) in the chromatin-binding fraction was substantially less in Hspa4l-null spermatozoa than that in those of wild-type mice. We further showed that Ppp1cc2 was a substrate of the chaperones Hsc70 and Hsp70 and that Hspa4l enhanced the release of Ppp1cc2 from these complexes, enabling the freed Ppp1cc2 to localize to chromatin. Pull-down and in vitro phosphatase assays suggested the dephosphorylation of protamine 2 at serine 56 (Prm2 Ser56) by Ppp1cc2. To confirm the biological importance of Prm2 Ser56 dephosphorylation, we mutated Ser56 to alanine in Prm2 (Prm2 S56A). Introduction of this mutation to Hspa4l-null mice (Hspa4l−/−; Prm2S56A/S56A) restored the malformation of sperm heads and the infertility of Hspa4l−/− mice. The dephosphorylation signal to eliminate phosphate was crucial, and these results unveiled the mechanism and biological relevance of the dephosphorylation of Prm2 for sperm maturation in vivo.


With 50 % of the worlds population dwelling in urban environments and over 70 % of people's time is spent indoors (at home, work or in vehicles). It is important to understand how the urban area effects the internal-external air exchange for buildings and how this may impact on the occupants, though this will differ depending on location. The urban area is complex, requiring multidisciplinary expertise in order to understand the driving features. Urban areas may be simplified down for study to reduce some of the complexity. The study undertaken at Silsoe, UK, used a full-scale staggered array of nine 6 m3 cubes to gain an understanding of the effects of meteorological variables on the natural ventilation rate and pressure coefficient. After 6 months 8 cubes were removed, leaving the
instrumented cube isolated for 2 months. All equipment logged constantly, creating a dataset which covers a wide range of wind directions, wind speeds, temperature differences and atmospheric stabilities making the dataset unique from previous work. Changes in wind direction cause changes in the pressure coefficient for both isolated and array cases. However defining wind direction is difficult for the array due to the
complex interaction of obstacle wakes. The relation between reference and local wind directions is non-linear. The flow within the array was dominated by mechanical turbulence generated by the wakes of the array elements, with the local turbulence intensity
being 7 to 10 times greater than for an isolated cube. The presence of an opening had no effect on the pressure coefficient when acting as an inlet. Stability was found to have no effect due to the building being low-rise and the effects of turbulence could not be discerned from 30 minute averages for both pressure coefficient and ventilation measurements. The full-scale data were compared to a wind tunnel model of the site. This allowed
for increased array sizes to be used. It was found that the length and size of the rows have a non-linear effect on the pressure coefficient of a cube within the array, with a limited array reducing the pressure coefficient by 10 to 50 % ± 5 % depending on measurement location. Pre-existing models predict the pressure coefficient for an isolated cube well, but do not accurately predict the pressure coefficient for a limited array due to the lack
of wind direction and shielding terms. This is also true for the full-scale data. The three methods used to predict ventilation rate (tracer gas decay, pressure difference and the volumetric method) were all affected by different variables such as the presence of thermally driven ventilation, wind direction, location of the wind speed measurement and amount of turbulence within the flow. The difference in the volumetric flow methods depended on the wind speed measurement used, highlighting the difficulty in gaining an accurate representation of ventilation rate using wind speed alone, especially in an urban area. All three methods show more agreement for the array cases than for the isolated cube cases. Pre-existing empirical models of urban wind speed (CIBSE), pressure coefficient (ASHRAE and AIVC) and ventilation rate do not capture the dual behaviour of the ratio of local and reference wind speeds found for the array. This dual behaviour is demonstrated for 1, 5, 10, 30 and 60 minute averaging periods. This behaviour is not
correlated to changes in wind direction, the turbulence or speed of the oncoming flow or internal-external temperature differences. A combination of frontal area density, sheltering factor, wind speed, wind direction, opening location and temperature differences within a ventilation model is required to accurately predict ventilation rate.


Objectives This nationwide population-based study aimed at evaluating healthcare resource utilization and direct medical costs among rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients receiving biologic therapies in Taiwan. Design and setting A retrospective cohort of 2,425 RA patients who had received first-line tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α antagonist treatment for at least 6 months (the baseline period) between 2007 and 2011 was identified from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Outcome measures Healthcare resource utilization and direct medical costs of those patients were analyzed and compared 1 year before the index date and during the 1-year follow-up. Results Analytical results demonstrated that 87.7% of RA patients received the same TNF-α antagonist during the 1-year follow-up, 2.4% of the patients switched to another TNF-α antagonist after the baseline period, 7.1% of the study cohort received a second-line biologic agent, while the remaining patients discontinued use of any TNF-α antagonist. Compared to 1 year before the index date, there were significant reductions in emergency room visits and hospitalization days for RA patients treated with the same TNF-α antagonist during the 1-year follow-up. However, there was an increase of outpatient visits among those patients. For those RA patients who switched to another TNF-α antagonist or received a second-line biologic agent, they consumed more healthcare resources. Furthermore, the corresponding medication costs went up markedly during the 1-year follow-up, but nearly all total direct medical costs (biologics excluded) were significantly reduced across the study cohort. Lastly, male patients incurred slightly higher medical costs than their counterparts, albeit in a statistically insignificant fashion. Conclusions This investigation revealed that RA patients treated with biologics utilized fewer emergency room visits and shorter hospitalization days, but incurred higher costs. In summary, this study provides meaningful information on healthcare resource utilization and medical costs of RA patients for healthcare providers and policymakers.


The potential of guar [Cyamopsis tetragonoloba (L.) Taub.] as a feasible crop for saline soils was tested in this study by evaluating seed germination of 42 accessions of guar in sodium chloride (NaCI) solution. The seeds were germinated in 200 mM NaCI or double-distilled water (control). There were significant differences in salt tolerance among the accessions tested. Percentages of seeds germinating in the salt solution ranged from 7.7 to 90.3% of the control, with the higher percentages suggesting greater salt tolerance. Twelve of the forty-two accessions were selected to study the effect of salinity on plant growth. Significant differences were obtained between the accessions for seed yield per pod, but not for seed yield per plant, plant height, branch number, and pod number (percentage of control). The presence of variation in the germplasm suggests some potential for selecting cultivars with increased salt tolerance. Salinity studies should include both germination and plant trials, because germination assays for salt tolerance do not necessarily predict plant growth and yield in saline soils.


Title of dissertation: THE SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT SYSTEM: FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCES IN INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM John William Denver, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by: Professor Emeritus Stephen W. Porges Department of Human Development The Polyvagal Theory links the evolution of the autonomic nervous system to affective experience, emotional expression, facial gestures, vocalization and social engagement behavior. Therefore, the theory provides a plausible explanation for the bio-behavioral indices of several psychiatric disorders. The vagus as a "system" provides a rich organizing principle to investigate several of the behavioral, psychological, and physiological features associated with compromised social behavior in several psychiatric disorders. The Polyvagal Theory describes this integrated system as the Social Engagement System. Observations of the behaviors and physiological responses of autistic individuals suggest that they have great difficulties in recruiting the neural circuit that regulates the social engagement system. This model predicts that a deficit in the system would produce atypical social behaviors such as social withdrawal; improper communication (i.e., poor intonation and prosody); difficulty listening (inability to extract human voice from background noise); poor eye contact; inappropriate facial expressivity (i.e., flat affect); and atypical visceral functioning (i.e., low cardiac vagal tone). These indices are directly related to the atypical behaviors associated with autism, and several other psychiatric disorders. In the current study, measures related to the functioning of these components were obtained to test the hypothesis that autistic individuals have a compromised social engagement system. Forty subjects participated in the study (20 autistic, 31 males, ages 9-24). Data were collected to assess autonomic functioning (i.e., cardiac vagal tone), the ability to extract human voice from a compromised environment, an estimate of right ear advantage, and looking behavior (i.e., eye contact). Analyses showed that autistic individuals scored poorer on all measures assessing social engagement system functioning. Compared to controls, the autistic group had lower mean cardiac vagal tone and shorter heart periods, performed poorer on extracting human voice from a compromised environment, on a dichotic listening task, and on a measure of right ear advantage. They also spent significantly less time fixating on the eyes and more time fixating off of the face when viewing a movie of a person telling them a story. Results support the hypothesized relation between a compromised social engagement system and the atypical features associated with autism. THE SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT SYSTEM: FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCES IN INDIVIDUALS WITH AUTISM


Sustainable development in China could have a vital impact both nationally and globally, and its intensive external and internal factors call for a strong commitment to sustainable development. The policies changes have strengthened the urgency and importance of assuming sustainable responsibility in all realms and processes, including architectural practices and village development. However, with regard to the problems identified above not well controlled ecological deterioration and other barriers, sustainable development in China has a long way to go. This kindly indicates that the broad and general aims of policies without detailed explanation of practical application or action at down level are insufficient to make significant changes in practice. As a result, more specific and effective measures and actions are needed to address the complex and challenging issues and make difference. The construction field in China represents the biggest energy consumer which requires a rapid yet efficient action to prevent the energy leak; having this sector ruled by the sustainability laws will have a positive outcome in terms of overall national development and global wide emissions control.


Abstract. Along-strike variation in scarp morphology
reflects differences in a fault's geomorphic and structural development and
can thus indicate fault rupture history and mechanical segmentation.
Parameters that define scarp morphology (height, width, slope) are typically
measured or calculated manually. The time-consuming manual approach reduces
the density and objectivity of measurements and can lead to oversight of
small-scale morphological variations that occur at a resolution impractical
to capture. Furthermore, inconsistencies in the manual approach may also lead
to unknown discrepancies and uncertainties between, and also within,
individual fault scarp studies. Here, we aim to improve the efficiency,
transparency and uniformity of calculating scarp morphological parameters by
developing a semi-automated Scarp PARameTer Algorithm (SPARTA). We compare
our findings against a traditional, manual analysis and assess the
performance of the algorithm using a range of digital elevation model (DEM)
resolutions. We then apply our new algorithm to a 12 m resolution TanDEM-X
DEM for four southern Malawi fault scarps, located at the southern end of the
East African Rift system: the Bilila–Mtakataka fault (BMF) and three previously
unreported scarps – Thyolo, Muona and Malombe. All but Muona exhibit
first-order structural segmentation at their surface. By using a 5 m
resolution DEM derived from high-resolution
(50 cm pixel−1) Pleiades stereo-satellite imagery for the
Bilila–Mtakataka fault scarp, we quantify secondary structural segmentation.
Our scarp height calculations from all four fault scarps suggest that if each
scarp was formed by a single, complete rupture, the slip–length ratio for
each earthquake exceeds the maximum typical value observed in historical
normal faulting earthquakes around the world. The high slip–length ratios
therefore imply that the Malawi fault scarps likely formed in multiple
earthquakes. The scarp height distribution implies the structural segments of
both the BMF and Thyolo fault have merged via rupture of discrete faults
(hard links) through several earthquake cycles, and the segments of the
Malombe fault have connected via distributed deformation zones (soft links).
For all faults studied here, the length of earthquake ruptures may therefore
exceed the length of each segment. Thus, our findings shed new light on the
seismic hazard in southern Malawi, indicating evidence for a number of large
(Mw 7–8) prehistoric earthquakes, as well as providing a new
semi-automated methodology (SPARTA) for calculating scarp morphological
parameters, which can be used on other fault scarps to infer structural
development.


BACKGROUND
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been implicated in immune activation and accelerated progression of immunodeficiency from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection. We hypothesized that CMV is associated with vascular disease in HIV-infected adults.

METHODS
In the Women's Interagency HIV Study, we studied 601 HIV-infected and 90 HIV-uninfected participants. We assessed the association of CMV immunoglobulin G (IgG) level with carotid artery intima-media thickness, carotid artery distensibility, Young's elastic modulus, and blood pressures. Multivariable models adjusted for age, race/ethnicity, smoking, diabetes, and body mass index.

RESULTS
Mean CMV IgG levels were higher in HIV-infected women compared with HIV-uninfected women (P < .01). Among HIV-infected women, higher CMV IgG level was associated with decreased carotid artery distensibility (P < .01) and increased Young's modulus (P = .02). Higher CMV IgG antibody level was associated with increased prevalence of carotid artery lesions among HIV-infected women who achieved HIV suppression on antiretroviral therapy, but not among viremic or untreated HIV-infected women. Adjustment for Epstein-Barr virus antibody levels and C-reactive protein levels had no effect on the associations between CMV IgG levels and vascular parameters.

CONCLUSIONS
Cytomegalovirus antibody titers are increased in HIV-infected women and associated with subclinical cardiovascular disease. Host responses to CMV may be abnormal in HIV infection and associated with clinical disease.


The assassination of the opposition leader in Tunisia exposed the underlying divisions between members of the ruling classes, between those in and outside of government, between religious groupings and secularists, and between the coastal areas and the hinterland of Tunisia. Since the revolution, tackling social inclusion has become a pressing problem: men versus women, young versus old, opponents versus supporters of the old regime and political forces inside Tunisia versus those in exile. The National Constituent Assembly (NCA)'s inability to address these fault lines and approve the second draft of the constitution has hampered the transition of the country towards the next elections, while all of the above have undermined trust in the political process. Although Tunisians are primarily responsible for the political processes in their country, argue authors Hrant Kostanyan and Elitsa Garnizova, the EU should step up its efforts to deliver on its commitments in the areas of money, market and mobility.


A simple optical interference method for fabricating two-dimensional square and trigonal lattices is demonstrated. A general formula for the interference contrast formed by two arbitrary polarized elliptical waves is deduced, the relation between wave vectors of incident light and the resultant pattern is analyzed, and polarization optimization of all beams to ensure uniform contrast is given.


This collection of new and original papers on mathematical aspects of nonlinear dispersive equations includes both expository and technical papers that reflect a number of recent advances in the field. The expository papers describe the state of the art and research directions. The technical papers concentrate on a specific problem and the related analysis and are addressed to active researchers.

 The book deals with many topics that have been the focus of intensive research and, in several cases, significant progress in recent years, including hyperbolic conservation laws, Schrodinger operators, nonlinear Schrodinger and wave equations, and the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations.


A greenhouse gas (GHG) calculator tool (Biosolids Emissions Assessment Model, BEAM) was developed for the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment to allow municipalities to estimate GHG emissions from biosolids management. The tool was developed using data from peer reviewed literature and municipalities. GHG emissions from biosolids processing through final end use/disposal were modeled. Emissions from nine existing programs in Canada were estimated using the model. The program that involved dewatering followed by combustion resulted in the highest GHG emissions (Mg CO(2)e 100 Mg(-1) biosolids (dry wt.). The programs that had digestion followed by land application resulted in the lowest emissions (-26 and -23 Mg CO(2)e 100 Mg(-1) biosolids (dry wt.). Transportation had relatively minor effects on overall emissions. The greatest areas of uncertainty in the model include N(2)O emissions from land application and biosolids processing. The model suggests that targeted use of biosolids and optimizing processes to avoid CH(4) and N(2)O emissions can result in significant GHG savings.


Unstructured data is driving digital transformation that is disrupting nearly every business today,
especially research organisations. Organisations that harness their file, object, and streaming
data, can gain a massive competitive advantage. In this session, we'll describe a data strategy
with Isilon and ECS that can boost the value of your "data capital" and provide a powerful
competitive edge for your organisation. ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S) Charles Sevior is Chief Technology Officer for the Unstructured Data Solutions Division of Dell
EMC. With a strong background in the media sector, he also provides focus on solutions for
Automotive, Analytics, EDA, Smart Cities and other sectors across the APAC and Greater China
regions. Charles has 30 years of professional engineering experience. Prior to joining Dell EMC he was
Technology Director for leading media company Nine Entertainment Co. Australia. There he
managed the transition to a digital file-based workflow and business & technology transformation.
He has also held positions of Director on the boards of several private and public companies. Charles is working with customers to help define their next generation business & technology
digital transformation – covering Data Lake / scale-out / software-defined File & Object storage,
converged infrastructure and advanced analytics empowering data-driven business value. He
prefers a consultative approach favouring collaborative solutions with leading application partner
vendors to yield excellent results for Dell EMC's customers. Charles Sevior holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) degree from the University of Melbourne,
and a Master of Business & Technology (MBT) from the University of NSW / AGSM in Sydney.


The Indonesian government encourages state-owned companies (BUMN) to be listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange and perform well. A Company's operating policy is expected to affect company performance. One approach to detect the company's operating policy is through the management of working capital. This study aims to examine the working capital management of non-financial BUMN companies and their impact on the efficiency of the company. In addition, we want to find empirical evidence that efficiency will affect company performance. The study used three independent variables which are days in inventory, days in receivables, and days in payables. The dependent variable is firm performance, as measured by its profitability. Company efficiency is an intervening variable. The results found that the profitability of non-financial BUMN is influenced by its profitability from the previous period . Similarly, the working capital efficiency measured by the cash conversion cycle is significantly influenced by the previous period's cash conversion cycle, and is not significantly affected by the working capital component. There is not enough evidence that working capital efficiency, as an intervening variable, has a significant effect on profitability.


—Performing a number of motion patterns – referred to as skills – (e.g., wave, spiral, sweeping motions) during teleoperation is an integral part of many industrial processes such as spraying, welding, and wiping (cleaning, polishing). Maintaining these motions whilst simultaneously avoiding obsta- cles and traversing complex terrain requires expert operators. In this work, we propose a novel skill-based shared control framework for incorporating the notion of skill assistance to aid novice operators to sustain these motion patterns whilst adhering to environmental constraints. Our shared control method uses streaming joystick data to estimate the model parameters that provide a description of the operator's intention. We introduce a novel parametrization for state and control that combines skill and underlying trajectory models, leveraging a special type of curve known as Clothoids. This new parameterization allows for efficient computation of skill-based short term horizon plans, enabling the use of a Model Predictive Control (MPC) loop. We perform experiments on a hardware mock-up, validating the effectiveness of our method to recognize a switch of intended skill, and showing an improved quality of output motion, even under dynamically changing obstacles. See our accompanying video here: https://youtu.be/TwhsgA6fw6M.


Estimation of population size is important for most research in population biology and in the management of game species. Using a stochastic, catch-effort, competing risk model (Dupont 1983), we estimated the population size of the Savannah River Site white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) herd for 1985-86. Population size varied markedly in response to changes in both hunting method and pressure. Still hunters preferentially harvested older animals compared to dog hunters. Deer were 2.37 times more susceptible to harvest from dog hunting than from still hunting. Hunter-induced mortality was estimated as 1.73 and 4.10 times as large as nonhunting mortality for still and dog hunting, respectively. The temporal pattern of estimated prehunt population sizes was significantly correlated with the temporal pattern of car−deer accidents recorded on the site during the same time period, suggesting that the temporal pattern of the population, estimates is accurate. If the number of cohorts is large and an accurate estimate of hunter effort can be obtained, this technique may provide more reliable population estimates than previously available techniques because it imposes fewer and less stringent biological assumptions


It has long been considered crucial to develop decision support systems that aid fighter pilots achieve their goals. Such systems often require automation of tasks formerly performed manually by the pilots, in situations characterized by huge amounts of (possibly uncertain and incomplete) sensor data and contextual infor- mation, time-pressure and dynamically changing tasks. Thus, careful investigations must be performed so as to develop such systems that provide accurate support for their users. This paper reports on the findings concerning research within the field of human-centred automation as well as presents empirical results concerning the ap- plicability of automation guidelines when designing information fusion based support systems in the fighter aircraft domain.


It was the long hot summer of 1987 in Sudan, the temperature was 45°C in the shade, and as a fourth year medical student I felt it was time to contribute a little to my country, hard hit by a year of drought.

I was part of a medical caravan, a team of volunteer medical students and doctors working at Karima General hospital, a 250 bedded hospital in the middle of the northern desert serving an area of 200 000 square miles.

We boarded the train on Monday morning for a journey of 180 miles. Everyone was in high spirits but prepared for a long wait because the train had a maximum speed (when in working order) of 40 miles an hour and in many areas the single track was shared with oncoming trains. We arrived four days later.

Three days into our stay in Karima I became increasingly unwell …


Pest populations of the cassava mealybug Phenacoccus manihoti Mat.-Ferr. (Homoptera: Pseudococcidae) were reduced successfully by the biological control agent Apoanagyrus (Epidinocarsis) lopezi De Santis (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) throughout most of sub-Saharan Africa. The economics of the project were evaluated based on data from field trials, socio-economic surveys, published results, and financial information provided by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and the national programmes. Costs and benefits for the biological control of P. manihoti were calculated over 40 years (1974-2013) for 27 African countries, for four different scenarios, taking into account that impact by A. lopezi and speed of the impact differ between ecological zones. A reasonable calculation considering compounded interest resulted in a benefit cost ratio of about 200 when cassava was costed at world market prices, and of about 370-740 when inter-African prices were considered.© 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


Policymaking for posterity involves current decisions with distant consequences. Contrary to conventional prescriptions, we conclude that the greater wealth of future generations may strengthen the case for preserving environmental amenities; lower discount rates should be applied to the far future, and special effort should be made to avoid actions that impose costs on future generations. Posterity brings great uncertainties. Even massive losses, such as human extinction, however, do not merit infinite negative utility. Given learning, greater uncertainties about damages could increase or decrease the optimal level of current mitigation activities. Policies for posterity should anticipate effects on: alternative investments, both public and private; the actions of other nations; and the behaviors of future generations. Such effects may surprise. This analysis blends traditional public finance and behavioral economics with a number of hypothetical choice problems.


This research adds the growing body of literature on the role of celebrities as emergent spokespersons in climate advocacy and the process and consequences of its effects on public attitudes and behaviors to resolve the climate crisis. By applying social cognitive theory in conjunction with emotional appeals and language styles as message frames, the study examines the effects of role-modeling in adoption of eco-attitudes and behaviors. In a 2 x 2 design, the independent variables were emotion frame (fear, hope) and celebrity involvement frame (first person pronouns; FPP, non-first person pronouns; NFPP). For the manipulation check, the tweets were pilot tested. The main study was an experiment that asked participants to read tweets attributed to Leonardo DiCaprio or Pharrell Williams. Four main dependent variables were attitudes toward climate change mitigation and three behaviors, including support for government action, intention to engage in sustainable behavior, and intention to participate in activism for climate change mitigation. The role of two mediating variables (risk awareness, response efficacy) and one moderating variable, parasocial interaction (PSI) with the celebrity, were also examined. First, one-way ANCOVAs compared the effects of emotion frames to the control group. No evidence of the effects of emotion frame over unrelated messages on any dependent variables was found. Second, 2 (fear vs hope) x 2 (FPP vs NFPP) ANCOVAs found that fear-framed messages were more effective than hope-framed messages in driving intention for participation in activism, but emotion frame did not affect any other variables. The results also found that FPP frames led to more positive attitude (compared to NFPP frames), but had no effect on behaviors. Third, regression analyses found no evidence that risk awareness or response efficacy mediated the effect of emotion frames on attitudes or behaviors. In addition, the study discovered that PSI was a strong positive predictor of attitudes and all behaviors, but PSI did not moderate the impact of the celebrity involvement frame. The findings provide empirical evidence of the potential for celebrities to serve as role models in climate advocacy by psychologically involving people, which can be translated to the adoption of attitudes and behaviors. INDEX WORDS: Celebrity, Climate change, Environmental advocacy, Twitter, Message


Background: Disruption of cyclic nucleotide signaling in sympathetic postganglionic neurons contributes to impaired intracellular calcium handling (Ca2+) and the development of dysautonomia during the early stages of hypertension, although how this occurs is poorly understood. Emerging evidence supports the uncoupling of signalosomes in distinct cellular compartments involving cyclic nucleotide–sensitive PDEs (phosphodiesterases), which may underpin the autonomic phenotype in stellate neurons. Methods: Using a combination of single-cell RNA sequencing together with Forster resonance energy transfer–based sensors to monitor cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate, PKA (protein kinase A)-dependent phosphorylation and cGMP (cyclic guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate), we tested the hypothesis that dysregulation occurs in a sub-family of PDEs in the cytosol and outer mitochondrial membrane of neurons from the stellate ganglion. Results: PDE2A, 6D, 7A, 9A genes were highly expressed in young Wistar neurons and also conserved in neurons from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). In stellate neurons from prehypertensive SHRs, we found the levels of cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate and cGMP at the outer mitochondrial membrane were decreased compared with normal neurons. The reduced cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate response was due to the hydrolytic activity of overexpressed PDE2A2 located at the mitochondria. Normal cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate levels were re-established by inhibition of PDE2A. There was also a greater PKA-dependent phosphorylation in the cytosol and at the outer mitochondrial membrane in spontaneously hypertensive rat neurons, where this response was regulated by protein phosphatases. The cGMP response was only restored by inhibition of PDE6. Conclusions: When taken together, these results suggest that site-specific inhibition of PDE2A and PDE6D at the outer mitochondrial membrane may provide a therapeutic target to ameliorate cardiac sympathetic impairment during the onset of hypertension.


Extimacy: the intimate is Other (Pau Waelder, curator of "Extimacy. Art, intimacy and technology") Inside the immense flow of data exchange, the new technologies have facilitated an interdependency between the spheres of what is private and what is public, between interior and exterior, leading us to reveal, in an increasingly natural manner, our experiences, thoughts and feelings, enlarging the circle of intimacy to the point of sharing our inner life with the invisible, abstract audience of Internet users. Things personal become collective, things belonging to others become our own and intimacy is no longer something that is preserved and kept in our innermost circles, but something that is projected in all directions in an eccentric movement. Thus intimacy turns into extimacy, to use the term created by Jacques Lacan to define the existence, within the most intimate sphere of the I, of a "foreign body", that which is external to the individual and with which one identifies. We need to share our intimacy because what we are is defined both by our subjectivity and by what surrounds us. In the realm of digital art, several artists have worked with the new parameters of subject, body, interpersonal relationship and intimacy introduced by the new technologies. Their works enable us to initiate a reflection on the ways in which the mobile phone, e-mails, chats, social networks and instant messaging systems modify, increase or condition our communication with others. They also allow us to consider where the boundaries of our personal space lie, where our "I" ends and that of others begins. "Extimacy. Art, intimacy and technology" is a group digital art exhibition which puts forward a proposal that spectators reflect on these concepts through the presentation of works by recognised artists from the international scene. Interactive installations, mainly, that involve spectators in what is active participation with the work, which never ceases to be a piece with its own identity, the fruit of the firm artistic background of creators who combine art and technology in their work. In an era in which the user adopts an active role in the diffusion and manipulation of information on the global network (known as web 2.0), in art, too, a change in roles between spectator and work is taking place, with interactive art as the best expression of this new paradigm. The works of some great names from this sphere, such as Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer or Paul Sermon, for instance, are combined with the creations of promising artists like Gazira Babeli, Clara Boj and Diego Diaz, Gregory Chatonsky, Carlo Zanni or Martin John Callanan. All of them exhibit the multiple facets a concept as complex and at the same time as simple as extimacy can present, from different angles and with diverse intentions.


Like myths in folklore, "development as discourse" constructs women. I argue that these representations of women, particularly in seven selected online articles produced by news media and development institutions about the recovery of Marawi City in the Philippines after nearly five months of conflict in 2017, obscure women's genuine aspirations and actual participation in rehabilitation efforts. Using the lens of Third World feminism and postdevelopment thinking, I point out how these media discourses on development mythologize women. Parsing "development as discourse" is essential not only for exposing the contradictions in media representations of women but also for surfacing the possibilities of reinterpreting the myths. Critical writing and reading can demythologize and liberate conflict women and other silenced Others.


The protective immunogenicity of the nucleoprotein (N), phosphoprotein (P), matrix protein (M), non-virion protein (NV) and glycoprotein (G) of the rhabdovirus infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) was assessed in rainbow trout using DNA vaccine technology. DNA vaccines were produced by amplifying and cloning the viral genes in the plasmid pCDNA 3.1. The protective immunity elicited by each vaccine was evaluated through survival of immunized fry after challenge with live virus. Neutralizing antibody titers were also determined in vaccinated rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss fry (mean weight 2 g) and 150 g sockeye salmon Oncorhynchus nerka. The serum from the 150 g fish was also used in passive immunization studies with naive fry. Our results showed that neither the internal structural proteins (N, P and M) nor the NV protein of IHNV induced protective immunity in fry or neutralizing antibodies in fry and 150 g fish when expressed by a DNA vaccine construct. The G protein, however, did confer significant protection in fry up to 80 d post-immunization and induced protective neutralizing antibodies. We are currently investigating the role of different arms of the fish immune system that contribute to the high level of protection against IHNV seen in vaccinated fish.


This thesis develops a new approach to fault tree analysis, namely the Binary Decision
Diagram (BDD) method. Conventional qualitative fault tree analysis techniques such
as the "top-down" or "bottom-up" approaches are now so well developed that further
refinement is unlikely to result in vast improvements in terms of their computational
capability. The BDD method has exhibited potential gains to be made in terms of
speed and efficiency in determining the minimal cut sets. Further, the nature of the
binary decision diagram is such that it is more suited to Boolean manipulation. The
BDD method has been programmed and successfully applied to a number of
benchmark fault trees.
The analysis capabilities of the technique have been extended such that all quantitative
fault tree top event parameters, which can be determined by conventional Kinetic Tree
Theory, can now be derived directly from the BDD. Parameters such as the top event
probability, frequency of occurrence and expected number of occurrences can be
calculated exactly using this method, removing the need for the approximations
previously required.
Thus the BDD method is proven to have advantages in terms of both accuracy and
efficiency. Initiator/enabler event analysis and importance measures have been
incorporated to extend this method into a full analysis procedure.


Motivated by the urgent need in green security domains such as protecting endangered wildlife from poaching and prevent-ing illegal logging, researchers have proposed game theo- retic models to optimize patrols conducted by law enforce-ment agencies. Despite the efforts, online information and online interactions (e.g., patrollers chasing the poachers by following their footprints) have been neglected in previous game models and solutions. Our research aims at providing a more practical solution for the complex real-world green se- curity problems by empowering security games with deep reinforcement learning. Specifically, we propose a novel game model which incorporates the vital element of online information and provide a discussion of possible solutions as well as promising future research directions based on game theory and deep reinforcement learning.


This report examines the behaviour of reinforced concrete beams with rectangular crosssection exposed to fire from the bottom and the sides. The study was performed with 2D finite element analysis using SAFIR. The effect of various support conditions was studied during the exposure to a four-hour ISO-fire for single-span beams with pinned and rotationally restrained supports, allowing for varying levels of horizontal restraint in both cases. The results showed that the provision of horizontal restraint was beneficial to the fire resistance of the beams in both cases. The provision of rotational restraint greatly improved the behaviour of the beams compared to the pinned supported case. The effect of continuity was investigated with beams spanning over two and three bays subjected to a four-hour ISO-fire. Within this analysis the effect of different lengths of the top reinforcing bars at the supports was investigated. Compared to the single span beam, the continuous beams resisted the fire exposure for a longer period of time. The different lengths of the reinforcing bars did not greatly increase the fire resistance of the beams. The influence of the full process of fire development was analysed with one, two and three-bay beams without horizontal restraint. These beams were exposed to the ISO-fire for 30, 60 and 90 minutes followed by a decay phase. The analysed beams showed good behaviour. Failure only occurred when the decay phase started close to the failure time reached during the full ISO-fire.


Over the past decades, literature survey revealed that, many naturally occurring and synthetic coumarin derivatives have been discovered and biologically evaluated for a broad range and diverse biological activities. This review provides a systematic summary and insight of the whole range of medicinal chemistry in the current developments of coumarin compounds and some overview on photochemotharpy, linear (psoralen) and angular (angelicin) furocoumarins and structure-activity relationships are also discussed. The perspectives of the future development of coumarin based medicinal chemistry are also presented.


Oprah Winfrey and the Glamour of Misery: An Essay on Popular Culture Eva Illouz. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003. In a book of staggering breadth, depth, and detail, F.va Tllou7, successfully launches a vigorous defense of both popular culture and Oprah Winfrey while formulating her own critique of Oprah Winfrey's cultural enterprise and the practice of cultural criticism. Illouz achieves these feats by relying on extensive research, a tireless patience for minute detail, and a highly original methodological practice. Drawing on Oprah's website, O magazine, the novels chosen for Oprah's book club, and the TV show itself, Illouz demonstrates an astonishing understanding of the way Oprah, as a cultural and economic force, appeals to her global audience. In order to locate the meanings in these cultural text, Illouz steers away from an ideological or a strict discourse analysis in favor of a slightly more risky tack: reading Oprah's cultural empire through the very intentions that are deeply embedded in the empire -Oprah's own. While acknowledging the dangers of the "intention" argument, Illouz successfully explains that Oprah's own intentions are deeply implicated into all aspects of her cultural production. Arguing that we cannot judge a cultural phenomenon such as the Oprah enterprise on outdated or arbitrary grounds dictated by the standards of "high" culture, Illouz persuasively argues that cultural critics must judge Oprah based on her own stated and implicit intention: to heal. Significantly, Illouz argues that Oprah in fact fails to live up to her oft-repeated intentions. The "glamour of misery" referred to in the title of the book points to how the theme of suffering pervades the Oprah show, Web site, and magazine. Misery and suffering serve as the link, Illouz argues, between Oprah and her guests. Illouz wants to link Oprah's emphasis on the theme of suffering "and the institutions that have produced the forms of suffering she stages" (112). In other words, modernity itself has unleashed a laundry list of real forms of suffering, and telling stories about our suffering is one way of having a self in modernity. Moreover, Oprah's show, Web site, and magazine consistently deal with moral dilemmas of the modern age, exploring how one ought to behave in a world that is endlessly painful and difficult. Poverty, unemployment, stressful work conditions, and other modern material ills serve as the backdrop, then, for the moral predicaments of modern existence: autonomy, marriage, obligation, sexuality, friendship. Suffering, for Illouz, is "a cultural category in its own right, as a text rich in meanings" (111). Enter Oprah, who offers "powerful symbolic tools and rituals to alleviate" the uncertainties of modern life. Both the show and the Oprah Web site are tools of communication for those struggling with the suffering of everyday life. "In that sense, Oprah's texts offer themselves as cultural strategies to cope with chaos and meaninglessness" (116). However, Illouz argues, Oprah's promotion of "self-help" is also the most difficult aspect of her enterprise. While Illouz beautifully defends Oprah against the charges of eroding the public sphere, voyeurism, and the commodification of sentiments, Illouz suggests that Oprah refuses to let any forms of suffering transform into anything other than a positive value, an uplifting experience, an opportunity to rewrite the life narrative. …