The turning point occurred with Heidegger's hermeneutics of facticity saw a great flourishing in Gadamer's works. Hermeneutics becomes the philosophy that undermines the scientific parameters of modernity and it looks for an extra-metodica way that leads up to truth through the rediscovery of the cultural values of our European tradition that is art, taste and culture but above all, rhetoric, practical philosophy, and that particular form of judgment called phronesis, which expresses itself in the understanding of the other and in the dialogue. This sensitivity towards the values of tradition, which represents the authentic authority since it's the consent on which the civil society is based, cannot for Gadamer withdraw into itself but it must open itself to the intercultural dialogue as an ethical answer to the challenge of globalization. PLEASE NOTE: Only three of the book's twenty-two essays are in English language text. (Series: The Dialogue - Yearbook of Philosophical Hermeneutics - Vol. 5)


Significance Mounting evidence suggests that mangrove forests protect coastal communities during tropical storm events. Yet, no large-scale analysis exists documenting these storm protection benefits globally. We provide global evidence that mangroves shelter economic activity during tropical cyclone exposure and that this sheltering prevents otherwise permanent losses to economic activity. These findings reveal that even modest mangrove forest coverage has the capacity to provide tremendous storm protection services, which highlights the need for mangrove conservation in many vulnerable coastal communities that have prior received less attention. Mangroves shelter coastlines during hazardous storm events with coastal communities experiencing mangrove deforestation are increasingly vulnerable to economic damages resulting from cyclones. To date, the benefits of mangroves in terms of protecting coastal areas have been estimated only through individual case studies of specific regions or countries. Using spatially referenced data and statistical methods, we track from 2000 to 2012 the impact of cyclones on economic activity in coastal regions inhabited by nearly 2,000 tropical and subtropical communities across 23 major mangrove-holding countries. We use nighttime luminosity to represent temporal trends in coastal economic activity and find that direct cyclone exposure typically results in permanent loss of 5.4–6.7 mo for a community with an average mangrove extent (6.3 m per meter of coastline); whereas, a community with more extensive mangroves (25.6 m per meter of coastline) experiences a loss equivalent to 2.6–5.5 mo. These results suggest that mangrove restoration efforts for protective benefits may be more cost effective, and mangrove deforestation more damaging, than previously thought.


An implementation of Manchester coding is being described in this paper. Manchester coding technique is a digital coding technique in which all the bits of the binary data are arranged in a particular sequence. The Intersil HD-15530 is a high performance CMOS device intended to service the requirements of MlLSTD-1553 and similar Manchester II encoded, time division multiplexed serial data protocols. This LSI chip is divided into two sections, an Encoder and a Decoder. These sections operate completely independent of each other, except for the Master Reset functions. This circuit meets many of the requirements of MIL-STD1553. The Encoder produces the sync pulse and the parity bit as well as the encoding of the data bits. The Decoder recognizes the sync pulse and identifies it as well as decoding the data bits and checking parity. This integrated circuit is fully guaranteed to support the 1MHz data rate of MlL-STD-1553 over both temperature and voltage. It interfaces with CMOS, TTL or N channel support circuitry. The HD-15530 can also be used in many party line digital data communications applications, such as an environmental control system driven from a single twisted pair cable of fiber optic cable throughout the building. The functions of the encoder section of the MED include a micro processor interface, parallel to serial conversion, frame generation, and NRZ to Manchester encoding. This circuitry can run very fast since it does not require a high-frequency clock. The frame format used is similar to that of a UART. The Manchester decoder limits the maximum frequency of operation of the MED, since it uses a high-frequency clock. The receiver circuitry is more complex, since clock recovery and center sampling is done. Additional receiver functions are frame detection, decoding of Manchester to NRZ, serial to parallel conversion, and a microprocessor


Abstract Area-wide sterile insect technique (SIT) programs assume that offspring reduction of the target population correlates with the mating success of the sterile males released. However, there is a lack of monitoring tools to prove the success of these programs in real-time. Field-cage tests were conducted under the environmental conditions of the Mediterranean coast of Spain to estimate: (a) the mating success of sterile Vienna-8 (V8) Ceratitis capitata males using molecular markers and (b) their efficacy to reduce C. capitata populations under six release ratios of wild females to wild males to V8 males (1:0:0, 1:1:0, 1:1:1, 1:1:5, 1:1:10, and 1:1:20). Statistical models were developed to predict: (a) the number of females captured in traps, (b) sperm ID (sterile or not) in spermathecae of the trapped females, and (c) the viable offspring produced, using release ratio and temperature as predictors. The number of females captured was affected by relative humidity. However, its influence in the model was low. Female captures were significantly higher in ratios 1:0:0 compared to ratios where V8 males were released. The proportion of V8 sperm in spermathecae increased with temperature and with the number of V8 males released, but leveled off between ratios 1:1:10 and 1:1:20. In all seasons, except winter (no offspring), viable offspring increased with temperature and was lowest for ratio 1:1:20. For the first time, a strong negative relationship between proportion of V8 sperm detected by molecular tools and C. capitata offspring was established. The models obtained should contribute to enhance the efficacy of SIT programs against this pest.


Coal-fired power plants play a major role in large scale power generation by producing about 41% and 25% of the electricity in the world and in the EU, respectively. In the context of EU's climate and energy policy (EU Reference Scenario 2016) and with a view to decarbonizing the electricity sector, the share of non-programmable renewable energies will soar in future years both in and outside the EU. As result, the role of fossil-fuel plants including coal-fired plants is expected to evolve, leading to a paradigm shift for their design and operation, which will move from constant base-load operation to increasingly variable power production for the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources. In the present work, developed within the EU project sCO2-Flex, the design and analysis of a coal-fired plant implementing a 100 MWel recompressed sCO2 power cycle is assessed, with particular focus on the trade-off between system performance and flexibility. The effects of the different design assumptions on the overall components' sizing and system performance are investigated and a methodology to quantify the thermal inertia and the system flexibility based on the calculation of heat exchangers surfaces, volumes and masses (boiler tube walls and convective pass, recuperators and gas cooler heat rejection unit) is then presented. Finally, the cycle optimization is repeated with the aim to find the optimal trade-off between plant efficiency and thermal inertia, eventually providing a number of promising designs for next generation sCO2 fossil fuel power plants.


Salmonella Typhimurium definitive type 104 (ST DT104) isolates resistant to antibiotics have been an issue since the multi-resistant clone was identified in 1985. In order to advance understanding of ST DT104 infections in Scotland, 2,796 human and 2,439 animal isolates with their corresponding antibiotic resistance patterns submitted from 1988 to 2004 were used to conduct descriptive, hierarchical, and geographical cluster studies and to construct a time series model. The analyses showed that using the 13 antibiotics used by the Scottish Salmonella Reference Laboratory, isolates could be allocated into two distinct groups. The first group containing the ApC1SpStSuTe R-type with its associated resistance patterns, mainly the ApCISpStSuTeTm and the ApCISpStSuTeNa R-types, dominated the trend throughout the study period. The second group, mainly composed of fully sensitive isolates, formed a low proportion except during the period from 1988 to 1990. Temporal analyses showed that there was an epidemic from 1993 to 1998 in human ST DT104 and from 1992 to 1999 in animals. Spatial analysis identified the southern part of Scotland as the higher relative risk area for both human and animal infections caused by multi-resistant ST DT104 strains In contrast, the central belt of Scotland was mainly the relative risk lower spatial cluster for the multi-resistant ST DT104 R-types. Of note in the spatio-temporal analysis was the stability and persistence of the chromosomally mediated multiple resistance compared to the more sporadic plasmid mediated resistance types of the second group. Although there were many similarities between the infections in humans and animals, there was no consistent temporal association between the emergence of clones in humans compared with animals suggesting that the ecological and epidemiological direction of the relationships is complex.


In this paper we have proposed a system for rescuing victims of bore well accidents. The proposed system is light in weight compared to existing methods, portable easy to handle and requires lesser manpower. The system design comprises of a four leg metal stand which supports the whole mechanical assemble the stand is of low weight therefore it is easy to transport it does not requires any heavy duty cranes. This stand has a round housing which holds the DC gear motor which controls the up and down motion of a robotic arm as the arm is connected to the motors shaft with pulley through a rope or heavy duty steel cable. The robotic arm has four mechanically operated fingers which can be opened or closed using a dc motor placed on the arm itself this motor controls the arm by tightening the cables which runs over the four finger joints just like a human arm. The two motors are controlled by an Arduino based remote control module containing buttons and toggle switch with the help of this module easy control of the system is achieved. In addition to this an ultrasonic sensor and a digital camera was also incorporated to predict the victim's location. In order to determine the feasibility of the system a prototype was designed and fabricated. The prototype consists of all mechanical and electronics setup as discussed above but in a miniature version. The prototype has a control module which consist of LCD display, motor driver IC, Arduino microcontroller, control switches, buttons and power supply unit. This is the main electronics unit which controls and coordinates the whole systems operation. The project is intended to reduce the risk involved during the child rescues operation by analysing the simulation.


"A simple dynamic panel model is used to capture persistence in poverty. This simple model allows a more accurate derivation of the permanent level of the measure of well-being from which persistent poverty is defined. Using a longitudinal dataset from the United States of America, the results show that the variability of the measure of welfare (logarithm of income-to-needs ratio) is mainly driven by transitory shocks through unobservable individual and time-specific characteristics. Consequently, means-tested schemes such as food stamps or the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant program can easily miss genuinely eligible welfare clients. The results also suggest that the probability of exiting persistent poverty is much higher for job participants than welfare programs participants. However, compared to their employed counterparts, unemployed individuals have little or no chance of escaping persistent poverty unless they choose to participate in welfare programs." from authors' abstract


Physical recovery following a critical illness is important for patients, family and clinicians.1–3 However, there is limited beneficial effect demonstrated from the intervention studies that have investigated physical rehabilitation across the continuum of critical illness recovery, starting in the intensive care unit (ICU) and continuing to the community setting with home-based rehabilitation and follow-up clinics4–8 What is the reason for this lack of treatment effect? As with all trials that show a lack of effect, we must consider a number of factors, including the intervention delivered, the target population and the outcome measure used.

In the recent RECOVER trial,8 there was an improvement in the functional status of patients following critical illness, as evidenced by the Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI); however, the delivery of a post-ICU bundled therapies intervention did not enhance the physical outcome over and above the normal trajectory of recovery. As there was clear demonstration that the treatment was delivered, this raises the question of whether the target population was appropriate and, in particular, whether we can identify cohorts of patients that are more or less likely to respond to rehabilitation treatment.

In Thorax , Griffith et al 9 report an a …


A bacterium (named OT-1(T)) that showed algicidal activity was isolated from sea water of Masan Bay, Korea, during an outbreak of red tide. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rDNA sequences showed that the isolate formed a distinct phyletic lineage within the family Flavobacteriaceae of the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium-Bacteroides group. No species with a validly published name showed >/=93 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to strain OT-1(T). The isolate had major amounts of iso-branched and 3-hydroxy iso-branched fatty acids and menaquinone 6 and a DNA G+C content of 34 mol%; these chemotaxonomic characters also supported the placement of the organism in the family Flavobacteriaceae. The strain was Gram-negative, yellow-pigmented, non-motile, non-gliding, flexirubin-negative, strictly aerobic, catalase-negative, oxidase-positive and halophilic. Na(+), Ca(2+) and Mg(2+) ions were obligately required for growth. The strain utilized various sugars as sole carbon sources and degraded gelatin, skimmed milk and starch. Several phenotypic characters can be used to differentiate the test strain from phylogenetically related marine bacterial genera. On the basis of polyphasic evidence, it is proposed that strain OT-1(T) should be assigned to the family Flavobacteriaceae as Kordia algicida gen. nov., sp. nov. The type strain is OT-1(T) (=KCTC 8814P(T)=NBRC 1000336(T)).


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY We propose that civilization and economies advance through democratizing privilege and extending personal rights and liberties. Conversely, abuse of these erodes civilization. A 2x2 topography of privilege developed from business, economics, sociology, and political science distinguishes privileges as economically efficient/inefficient and formal (legalistic)/informal (cultural). This topography facilitates the construct a set of propositions for "economic democracy" consistent with principles underlying political democracy: eliminating inefficient privileges, the economic value of formal-efficient privileges accruing to the community, and protecting individual freedom and economic production. We present arguments and evidence that these propositions have significant potential to advance civilization and expand economies. Keywords: Economic Democracy, Liberty, Free-Markets, Privilege, Property Rights, Economic Development ADVANCING CIVILIZATION: PRIVILEGE AND PROGRESS One could view the advancement of civilization as a saw-toothed climb of complexity, interconnectedness and cooperation interrupted by backsliding of fundamentalism, fragmentation, and hostility. This paper asserts that the key to each major upward climb is what we will call the democratization of formal privilege - the decentralizing or de-concentrating of rights or advantages shared by some and denied to others. For this claim to make sense we must define our terms, add nuance to some terms - especially civilization, privilege and economic democracy - and illustrate our meaning. What could "advancement of civilization" mean? Black's Law Dictionary (1990: 246) defines Civilization as: "A term which covers several states of society; it is relative, and has no fixed sense, but implies an improved and progressive condition of the people. It consists not merely in . . . accomplishment and accumulation of wealth, or in advancement in culture, science, and knowledge, but also in doing of equal and exact justice." The term "of the people" implies everyone, perhaps not as individuals, but certainly considered as one body. Various criteria could measure "improvement" or "progressive condition," but for any of them to count as advancement, we must consider the number of people the improvement benefited and whether it was for the betterment of the whole. Some advances in technology, science, economic arrangements, and culture may improve some aspects of society, but for our purposes we consider the effect on the broad body of society. One common example of progress is the advent of the printing press - the ability to easily mass-produce written information. Although illiteracy still exists, civilization as a whole undoubtedly advanced with this technology. Yet if only a small privileged class had been permitted to learn to read (as was forced by the technology of handwritten books), the advancement of civilization would surely have been less. We propose that civilization advances when certain privileges (especially those written into law) are removed. Black's (1990: 1197) defines Privilege as: "A particular and peculiar benefit or advantage enjoyed by a person, company, or class, beyond the common advantages of other citizens. An exceptional or extraordinary power of exemption. A peculiar right, advantage, exemption, power, franchise or immunity held by a person or class, not generally possessed by others." Not surprisingly, belief in the equal worth of each person and a desire for self-determination often served as catalysts for shifts in privilege as well as the basis for political democracy. In the following examples, concentrated privilege is rejected and contributes to enabling the next historical step: * The rise of self-determination and greater access to written materials, especially the Bible, led to the Protestant Revolution and rejection of Roman Catholic Church's position as the sole mediator between man and God. …


Resonance Raman scattering measurements were performed on indium nitride thin films under conditions where the surface electron concentration was controlled by an electrolyte gate. As the surface condition is tuned from electron depletion to accumulation, the spectral feature at the expected position of the (E1, A1) longitudinal optical (LO) near 590 cm−1 shifts to lower frequency. The shift is reversibly controlled with the applied gate potential, which clearly demonstrates the surface origin of this feature. The result is interpreted within the framework of a Martin double resonance, where the surface functions as a planar defect, allowing the scattering of long wavevector phonons. The allowed wavevector range, and hence the frequency, is modulated by the electron accumulation due to band gap narrowing. A surface band gap reduction of over 500 meV is estimated for the conditions of maximum electron accumulation. Under conditions of electron depletion, the full InN bandgap (Eg = 0.65 eV) is expected at the surface. The drastic change in the surface band gap is expected to influence the transport properties of devices which utilize the surface electron accumulation layer.


Bottom-up processes of policy convergence are increasingly discussed as a substitute for the absence of supranational energy policy coordination and harmonization in the EU. The overall objective of this paper is to analyse the development of government support to renewable energy R&D across EU countries over time: does the empirical evidence suggest bottom-up convergence? In order to answer this question, we first construct country-specific R&D-based knowledge stocks, and then investigate whether the developments of these stocks tend to converge or diverge across EU countries. A data set covering 12 EU Member States over the time period 1990-2012 is employed to test for the presence of conditional â-convergence using a bias-corrected dynamic panel data estimator. The empirical results are overall robust and suggest divergence in terms of public R&D-based knowledge build-up in renewable energy technology. This finding is consistent with free-riding behavior on the part of some Member States, and the presence of industrial policy motives in other States in combination with agglomeration effects in the renewable energy sector. Energy import dependence and electricity regulation are found to influence the growth of the R&D-based knowledge stock, and the deregulation of the EU electricity markets has tended to contribute to a lower speed of divergence.


We systematically study the formation of cavity solitons in a high-finesse, doubly resonant degenerate optical parametric oscillator. Three types of cavity soliton, emanating from different plane-wave critical points, are identified. By means of amplitude equations the bifurcation dynamics of these solutions is studied and classified. We compare cavity solitons calculated from amplitude equations with the full numerical solutions near the critical points and trace their evolution numerically far from bifurcation. We found cavity soliton types previously not identified, namely, dark and oscillating solitons. These numerical studies are complemented by a linear stability analysis of cavity solitons. Various decay situations for unstable cavity solitons are discussed.


BACKGROUND
Cabbage vegetables, like Brassica group, are perceived as very valuable food products. They have a very good nutritive value, high antioxidant activity and pro-healthy potential. Especially, kale (Brassica oleracea L. var. acephala) is characterized by good nutritional and pro-healthy properties, but this vegetable is not popular in Poland. The aim of this work was to assess the chemical composition and antioxidant activity of kale variety Winterbor F(1) and investigation of cooking process on selected characteristics.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
The chemical composition and antioxidant activity were determined in leaves of kale Winterbor F(1) variety after three subsequent years of growing. In one season, analyses were performed on raw and cooked leaves.

RESULTS
The investigated kale was characterized by high average contents of: β-carotene (6.40 mg/100 g f.m.), vitamin C (62.27 mg/100 g f.m.), alimentary fiber (8.39 g/100 g f.m.) and ash (2.11 g/100 g f.m.). The average amounts of nitrites (III) and (V) were 3.36 mg NaNO(2)/kg f.m. and 1206.4 mg NaNO(3)/kg f.m., respectively. The investigated kale contained polyphenolic compounds at average level of 574.9 mg of chlorogenic acid/100 g f.m., and its antioxidant activity measured as ABTS radical scavenging ability was 33.22 μM Trolox/g of fresh vegetable. It was observed a significant lowering of antioxidant compounds as a result of cooking. The losses of vitamin C were at about 89%, polyphenols at the level of 56%, in calculation on dry mass of the product. The highest stability was shown in the case of beta-carotene, for which the losses were at about 5%. Antioxidant activity of cooked vegetable lowered and reached the level of 38%. There were also some losses observed in macro-components from 13% for zinc to 47% for sodium. The contents of harmful nitrites and nitrates in calculation on dry mass were significantly lower as a result of cooking, by 67% and 78%, respectively.

CONCLUSION
Winterbor F(1) variety of kale has a great nutritive value and high antioxidant activity. The cooking process of kale resulted in lowering of the antioxidant activity of its antioxidants especially of vitamin C, polyphenols and to the lesser extent of β-carotene what confirms that vegetable should be eaten in raw form or just undergo little processing before consumption, for example blanching.


Determinants of default risk of banks in emerging economies have so far received inadequate attention in the literature. Using panel data techniques, this paper seeks to study the determinants bank asset quality and profitability using robust data sets for the period from 1997-2009. The findings of the study reveal some interesting inferences contrary to the established perceptions. Priority sector credit has been found to be not significant in affecting the NPAs contrary to the general perception and similar is the case with that of rural branches implying that aversion to rural credit is a falsely founded perception. Bad Debts are dependent more on the performance of the industry than other sectors of the economy. Public sector banks have shown significant performance in containing bad debts private banks have continued to be stable in containing the bad debts as they have better risk management procedures and technology, which definitely allows them to finish up with lower levels of NPAs. Further, investigating the effect of determinants on profitability it is established that while capital adequacy and investment activity significantly affect the profitability of commercial banks apart from other accepted determinants of profitability, asset size has no significant impact on profitability.


OBJECTIVE
In the present study, the clinical effectiveness of a surgical procedure in which no draining tubes are installed following simple burr hole drainage and saline irrigation is investigated.

METHODS
10 patients, having undergone operative intervention for unilateral chronic subdural hemorrhage, having a clinical grade of 2 and a hemorrhage thickness of 2 cm, were included in the study. The cerebral blood flow rates of middle cerebral artery were evaluated bilaterally with Doppler before and after the surgery. All the cases underwent the operation using the simple burr hole drainage technique without the drain and consequent saline irrigation. Statistical analysis was performed by Wilcoxon signed rank test (p<0.05).

RESULTS
There was a pronounced decrease in the preoperative MCA blood flow in the hemisphere the hemorrhage had occurred (p=0.008). An increased PI value on the side of the hemorrhage drew our attention (p=0.005). Postoperative MCA blood flow measurements showed a statistically significant improvement (p=0.005). Furthermore, the PI value showed normalization (p<0.05). The paresis and the level of consciousness improved in all cases.

CONCLUSION
Simple burr hole drainage technique is sufficient for the improvement of cerebral blood flow and clinical recovery in patients with chronic subdural hemorrhage.


The Global Financial Crisis is a unique investigation into the causes of the most savage economic downturn experienced since the Great Depression. Employing wide and divergent perspectives – which are themselves critically examined – this study analyses the measures that have been taken to restore our economies to acceptable rates of unemployment and growth.


Discover to the most progressive thinking about organizations today as acclaimed author Richard Daft balances recent, innovative ideas with proven classic theories and effective business practices. Daft's best-selling ORGANIZATION THEORY AND DESIGN, 10E presents a captivating, compelling snapshot of contemporary organizations and the concepts driving their success that will immediately engage any reader. Recognized as one of the most systematic, well organized texts in the market, ORGANIZATION THEORY AND DESIGN helps both future and current managers thoroughly prepare for the challenges of today's business world. This thorough revision showcases some of today's most current examples and research alongside time-tested principles. Readers see how many of today's well-known organizations thrive amidst a rapidly changing, highly competitive, international environment. Proven and new learning features provide opportunities for readers to apply concepts and refine personal business skills and insights.


We have enhanced our parallel molecular dynamics (MD) simulation software LAMMPS (Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator, lammps.sandia.gov) to include many new features for accelerated simulation including articulated rigid body dynamics via coupling to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute code POEMS (Parallelizable Open-source Efficient Multibody Software). We use new features of the LAMMPS software package to investigate rhodopsin photoisomerization, and water model surface tension and capillary waves at the vapor-liquid interface. Finally, we motivate the recipes of MD for practitioners and researchers in numerical analysis and computational mechanics.


There is emerging consensus that various components of the criminal legal system have gone too far in capturing and punishing masses of Black men, women, and children. This evolving recognition has helped propel important and pathbreaking criminal legal reforms in recent years, with significant bipartisan support. These reforms have targeted the criminal legal system itself. They strive to address the pain inflicted by the system. However, by concerning themselves solely with the criminal legal system, these reforms do not confront the reality that Black men, women, and children will continue to be devastatingly overrepresented in each stitch of the system. As a result, these reforms do not reach deeply enough. They do not address or confront the reality that simply being Black has been and will continue to be criminalized.

This Article asserts that measures beyond these reforms — measures that reach the root of racial criminalization — are necessary for true criminal legal system transformation.


The expanding roles of the immune system in tumourigenesis have established immunotherapy as a potential mainstream cancer therapeutic modality. Ex vivo expanded and activated cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTLs) and natural killer (NK) cells have been found to be efficacious in the treatment of various types of cancers. One of the biggest limitations is the ability to generate and store cytotoxic immune cells in larger numbers without losing its cytotoxicity. Consequently, we evaluated the in vitro cytotoxic activity of freshly cultured and cryopreserved CTLs and NK cells that were expanded in vitro. We also compared the synergistic cytotoxic activity of CTLs and NK cells in combination. The cytotoxic activity was measured in bladder cancer cell lines, EJ28 (invasive) and RT112 (minimally-invasive). All experiments were run in three replicates. The cellular phenotype of the isolated and expanded effector cells was characterised using flow cytometry. MTT assay was performed to assess the dose- and time-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxic activity in the bladder cancer cells. An effector to target ratio of 1:1, 2:1, 5:1, 10:1 and 20:1 was tested after 4 h, 12 h and 24 h incubation. The fresh in vitro expanded effector cells had a high percentage of cell viability and expressed cytotoxic markers CD8+ and CD56+ in the CTL and NK cell cultures, respectively. Although the expansion capacity of the cryopreserved cells was limited, the expression of the functional markers and cytotoxic activity of these effector cells were maintained. All the effector cells exhibited significant cytotoxic activity at the effector to target ratio of 5:1 at 4 hours of co-culture. This was confirmed through the real-time observation of the morphological changes of the cells using an inverted phase contrast and time-lapse confocal microscope. The ex vivo generated CTLs and NK cells appear to retain their functionality, especially in recognizing their allogeneic target and thus, serve as a foundation to build on for future therapeutic applications.


We reconstruct the evolution of ocean acidification in the California Current System (CalCS) from 1979 through 2012 using hindcast simulations with an eddy-resolving ocean biogeochemical model forced with observation-based variations of wind and fluxes of heat and freshwater. We find that domain-wide pH and &OHgr; arag ?> in the top 60 m of the water column decreased significantly over these three decades by about −0.02 decade−1 and −0.12 decade−1, respectively. In the nearshore areas of northern California and Oregon, ocean acidification is reconstructed to have progressed much more rapidly, with rates up to 30% higher than the domain-wide trends. Furthermore, ocean acidification penetrated substantially into the thermocline, causing a significant domain-wide shoaling of the aragonite saturation depth of on average −33 m decade−1 and up to −50 m decade−1 in the nearshore area of northern California. This resulted in a coast-wide increase in nearly undersaturated waters and the appearance of waters with &OHgr; arag < 1 ?> , leading to a substantial reduction of habitat suitability. Averaged over the whole domain, the main driver of these trends is the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere. However, recent changes in the climatic forcing have substantially modulated these trends regionally. This is particularly evident in the nearshore regions, where the total trends in pH are up to 50% larger and trends in &OHgr; arag ?> and in the aragonite saturation depth are even twice to three times larger than the purely atmospheric CO2-driven trends. This modulation in the nearshore regions is a result of the recent marked increase in alongshore wind stress, which brought elevated levels of dissolved inorganic carbon to the surface via upwelling. Our results demonstrate that changes in the climatic forcing need to be taken into consideration in future projections of the progression of ocean acidification in coastal upwelling regions.


Background. Deliberate self-harm (DSH) ranges from behaviours aiming to communicate distress or relieve tension, but where suicide is not intended, to actual suicide. Not all individuals are prone to DSH, which suggests that there are factors that protect against it. Identifying these could play an important role in the management and prevention of DSH. Objectives. This study examined whether religious beliefs, coping skills and responsibility to family serve as factors protecting against DSH in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Method. A cross-sectional comparative study assessed DSH patients consecutively admitted or directly referred to Queen Elizabeth General Hospital and Hospital Mesra Bukit Padang during the period December 2006 - April 2007. DSH patients (N=42) were matched with controls (N=42) for gender, age, religion, race, occupation and marital status. The DSH and control groups were compared using psychosocial tests that assess coping skills, religious beliefs and responsibility to family. Results. There were significant differences in religious beliefs (p=0.01) and responsibility to family (p=0.03) between the DSH patients and the control group. There were also significant differences in coping skills, DSH patients tending to use emotion-orientated coping (p=0.01) as opposed to task- and avoidance-orientated coping. Conclusion. Consistent with international studies, coping skills (i.e. task-orientated skills), religious beliefs and responsibility to family were more evident in patients who did not attempt DSH than in those who did. These findings imply that treating DSH should not start only at the point of contact. Protective factors such as religious beliefs, responsibility to family and coping strategies can be inculcated from a very young age. However, caution is required in generalising the results owing to limitations of the study. Further extensive research on religious and psychotherapeutic interventions and prospective studies on protective factors will be helpful.


These edited Keynote remarks from the Temple Political and Civil Rights Law Review Symposium on transgender law address how questions of law reform strategy relate to critical understandings of neoliberalism. The paper addresses questions of administrative governance, identity documentation, the relationship between law and social movements, and questions of economic and racial justice as applied to transgender politics.


As multiparty elections have become a global norm, scholars and policy experts regard public trust in elections as vital for regime legitimacy. However, very few cross-national studies have examined the consequences of electoral manipulation, including the manipulation of election administration and the media, on citizens' trust in elections. This paper addresses this gap by exploring how autonomy of election management bodies (EMBs) and media freedom individually and conjointly shape citizens' trust in elections. Citizens are more likely to express confidence in elections when EMBs display de-facto autonomy, and less likely to do so when media entities disseminate information independent of government control. Additionally, we suggest that EMB autonomy may not have a positive effect on public trust in elections if media freedom is low. Empirical findings based on recent survey data on public trust in 47 elections and expert data on de-facto EMB autonomy and media freedom support our hypotheses.


Context-free approaches to static analysis gain precision over classical approaches by perfectly matching returns to call sites---a property that eliminates spurious interprocedural paths. Vardoulakis and Shivers's recent formulation of CFA2 showed that it is possible (if expensive) to apply context-free methods to higher-order languages and gain the same boost in precision achieved over first-order programs.
To this young body of work on context-free analysis of higher-order programs, we contribute a pushdown control-flow analysis framework, which we derive as an abstract interpretation of a CESK machine with an unbounded stack. One instantiation of this framework marks the first polyvariant pushdown analysis of higher-order programs; another marks the first polynomial-time analysis. In the end, we arrive at a framework for control-flow analysis that can efficiently compute pushdown generalizations of classical control-flow analyses.


This article reveals research management as a complex, constantly changing process faced with numerous challenges. It also addresses the importance of a research administrator in the areas of research management and research administration, underscoring the research administrator's impact on the research culture in the institution. There is an ongoing debate on how to administer research in the context of institutional management of growing complexity, changing economic conditions and increasing political influence on research. The article emphasizes that the main roles of the research administrator are helping faculties carry out research and representation of university's interests. However, the conditions for the implementation of research vary, new challenges and opportunities continually arise, and thus the competences of the research administrator must change to reflect these transformations: he/she must take on the roles of manager, lawyer, financier, or quasiresearcher.


We report a 58-year-old man showing spastic paraparesis due to medulla oblongata compression by tortuous vertebral arteries. He noticed weakness of both legs and gait disturbance at the age of 58 years and his symptoms progressively worsened during the following several months. General physical findings were normal. Blood pressure was normal and there were no signs of arteriosclerosis. Neurological examination on admission revealed lower-limb-dominant spasticity in all four extremities, lower-limb weakness, hyperreflexia in all extremities with positive Wartenberg's, Babinski's and Chaddock's signs, mild hypesthesia and hypopallesthesia in both lower limbs, and spastic gait. Cranial nerves were all normal. Serum was negative for antibodies against human T-cell lymphotropic virus-1 antibody. Nerve conduction and needle electromyographic studies of all four limbs revealed normal findings. Cervical, thoracic and lumbo-sacral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings were all normal. Brain MRI and magnetic resonance angiography demonstrated bilateral tortuous vertebral arteries compressing the medulla oblongata. Neurovascular decompression of the right vertebral artery was performed because compression of the right side was more severe than that of the left side. Post-operative MRI revealed outward translocation of the right vertebral artery and relieved compression of the medulla oblongata on the right side. The patient's symptoms and neurological findings improved gradually after the operation. Bilateral pyramidal tract signs without cranial nerve dysfunction due to compression of the medulla oblongata by tortuous vertebral arteries are extremely rare and clinically indistinguishable from hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). Although we did not perform a genetic test for HSP, we consider that the spastic paraparesis and mild lower-limb hypesthesia were caused by compression of the medulla oblongata by bilateral tortuous vertebral arteries based on the post-operative improvement in symptoms. Given the favorable effects of surgery, tortuous vertebral arteries should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients presenting with progressive spastic paraparesis.


Quinone antibiotics, alpha- and beta-rubromycin, were originally found as inhibitors of retroviral reverse transcriptase. We investigated the effects of these agents on DNA metabolic enzymes including DNA and RNA polymerases as retroviral reverse transcriptase is a kind of the polymerase. As expected, we found that alpha- and beta-rubromycin strongly inhibited not only the retroviral reverse transcriptase activity, but the activities of the mammalian DNA polymerases, telomerase and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase in vitro. These agents should therefore be classified as DNA polymerase inhibitors. The Ki values of alpha-rubromycin against nucleotide substrate were 0.66 and 0.17 microM for DNA polymerase alpha and beta (pol. alpha and beta), respectively, and those of beta-rubromycin was 2.40 and 10.5 microM, respectively. Alpha-rubromycin strongly inhibited the pol. beta activity, and showed the strongest pol. beta inhibitory effect reported to date. At least on pol. beta, alpha-rubromycin was suggested to bind to the active region competing with the nucleotide substrate, and subsequently inhibit the catalytic activity. alpha-Rubromycin directly competed with the nucleotide substrate, and indirectly but simultaneously and non-competitively disturbed the template-DNA interaction with pol. beta.


In this article we reflect on the timely dialogue which took place to address how economic growth and the expanding middle-class youth population in South Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) influences sartorial identities. This working note is based on an ongoing research project: 'South Asian Youth Cultures and Fashion' and the related symposium at the London College of Fashion, which explores how South Asian sartorial identities have been previously classified and how they are changing in the face of an increasingly globalized world. The conversations which took place reiterated the very reason why the symposium was organized. Whilst there has been some study of South Asian fashion and dressing cultures within history, anthropology and its diaspora, little work has looked at the transnational implication of the changing cultural, economic and fashion education environments on dress cultures on youth.


In this chapter, book group discourse is analyzed, with the view of considering how literary interpretation happens across short extracts of talk. The book group is seen as a learning environment, a community of practice in which the 'private' readings that readers bring to meetings can be transformed through discussing the text with others. Readings are analysed in terms of Allan Bell's interpretative arc, as this model sees the incremental nature of literary interpretation. Extracts from one particular reading group meeting are considered and the transcript data is approached in a sociolinguistic fashion. Analysis demonstrates that interpretation in this context is more than the sum of its parts, so that what is produced in the talk is group reading rather than isolated, individual action.


National trends in nurse education have changed from the Nightingale system of onthe-job training to a professional preparation in institutions of higher learning. Western Australia was one of the first States in Australia to commence a professional preparation of nurses at an institution of higher education in 1975. Graduates of the program were presented with their Bachelor of Applied Science from the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now Curtin University of Technology), in March 1979. This thesis seeks to answer the question concerning the genesis of such an event. The focus of the study is primarily to follow the progress of general nurse education in Western Australia and to highlight the accompanying influences that shaped its development. The purpose of this study was to explore, analyze, interpret and describe the history of nurse education in Western Australia from 1962-1975. The study used a pluralistic approach employing a variety of historical methods. The research commenced with broad questions and ideas developed from documents and people. The process of data collection, historical criticism and analysis took place simultaneously. The synthesis was written as a chronological narrative. The material of the study thus 'spoke' for itself by providing answers to questions raised during the investigation. The history of nurse education from 1962 to 1975 revealed visible milestones that represented nurse education reform. Beginning from the antecedents of the study these were the sanctioning of a review of nurse training in 1960 together with the commencement of the Western Australian Nursing Survey and the appointment of the Nurses Registration Board Education Officer. In 1962 the survey was completed. It exposed the deficits of nurse training which led to the development of a new Hospital Based Diploma curriculum and an Associate Diploma in Nursing in 1966. The establishment of the College of Nursing Australia Western Australian Branch in 1966 paved the way to solve the shortage of tutors to implement the Hospital Based Diploma. The Nurses Act in 1970 enhanced the plans for implementing the Hospital Based Diploma and conferred autonomy to the Nurses Registration Board. In 1973 the first independent school of nursing came into being. The Western Australian School of Nursing carried the hopes of a continuation of hospital nurse training. In 1974, however, the entry of students to the Western Australian Institute of Technology School of Nursing saw a turn of events that led to a degree for nurses in 1975 and a decision for the transfer of all nurse education in Western Australia to the Western Australian Institute of Technology. These milestones did not emerge as an accident of history. There were forces that facilitated and impeded the perceptibility of the reform landmarks. These were crucial in the shaping the history of nurse education in Western Australia from 1962-1975.


The antipathy of federal and state courts toward equal protection arguments in lawsuits challenging the public funding of education have forced education activists to search for alternative doctrinal hooks as they continue to seek reform in states' funding and management of schools. These activists have turned to state constitutions' education clauses, which impose duties on state governments to provide an "adequate" education for all children in the state. However, the art of defining and measuring an "adequate" education has advanced little beyond its state in 1973, when Justice Thurgood Marshall found the term unhelpful. In this Note, Josh Kagan surveys various means of defining and measuring adequacy used by state courts, including the use of existing legislative or executive standards, the use of future legislative or executive standards, a variety of educational outputs (such as standardized test scores), and educational inputs (such as quality of teachers, curricula, or school buildings). Applying scholars' theories of state constitutional interpretation and the history of state education clauses, Kagan argues that state courts should be aggressive in their use of educational inputs to define and measure educational adequacy. Unique factors of state governmental structure justify state court involvement in education policy questions that federal courts would consider inappropriate. These factors, coupled with the history of state education clauses, enable state courts to draw on a wide set of historical and current sources to define educational inputs required by state constitutions, and provide jurisprudential guidelines for this necessarily policy-laden analysis. Such an approach also encourages education activists to seek remedies other than reform to school financing systems; instead, activists can target states' provision of particular educational inputs.


The eurozone crisis triggered a whole new series of innovations in EU economic governance in order to make the Union more resilient for the next economic downswing. But one of the more persistent issues are the socio-economic divergences between member states, identified by the Five Presidents' Report as a major problem in the functioning of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Debates took place in recent years about automatic stabilisers, and more specifically about the possibility of introducing an unemployment insurance within the EMU. While the need for some form of fiscal risk-sharing has become a dominant view in expert circles, there has been much less progress among the main political parties and stakeholders. In this study, Regula Hess and Laszlo Andor analyse the political feasibility of the adoption of an automatic fiscal stabiliser (AFS) for the eurozone by evaluating actors' positions towards three distinctive proposals: 1) cyclical shock insurance, 2) reinsurance, 3) a European basic unemployment insurance; they included an empirical case study of France and Germany as the most relevant players within the intergovernmental bargaining constellation. Although the authors realise the current political context makes the adoption of an AFS improbable, Hess and Andor encourage stakeholders to further pursue the discussion, as windows of opportunities can open at any time, and even give some suggestions on what the parameters of the most feasible proposal might be.


This article analyzes changes in the division of routine domestic work after first parenthood. We wanted to know whether and how it was possible for couples to resist the trend toward traditionalization that has been shown in the literature. To do so, we analyze semistructured interviews with 27 Spanish couples who were expecting their first child in 2011 and interviewed them again in 2013. The couples were selected from a bigger sample because of their nontraditional practices preparenthood. Our results show that 17 of them were able to maintain a nontraditional division of domestic work, whereas 10 traditionalized. In our analysis, relative resources and time availability did not sufficiently explain the changes in the division of work, but specific characteristics of the division of work before childbirth—men's active participation, the routinization of tasks, and flexible standards—emerged as key factors to resist the trend toward more traditional arrangements.


The notion of an ad hoc network is a new paradigm that allows mobile hosts (nodes) to communicate without relying on a predefined infrastructure to keep the network connected. Most nodes are assumed to be mobile and communication is assumed to be wireless. The mobility of nodes in an ad-hoc network means that both the population and the topology of the network are highly dy- namic. It is very difficult to design a once-for-all intrusion detection system. A secure protocol should atleast include mechanisms against known attack types. In addition, it should provide a scheme to easily add new security features in the future. The paper includes the detailed description of Proposed Intrusion Detection System based on Local Reputation Scheme. The proposed System also includes concept of Redemption and Fading these are mechanism that allow nodes previously considered mali- cious to become a part of the network again. The simulation of the proposed system is to be done us- ing NS-2 simulator.


We demonstrate that the fractional-order Fourier transformation is a suitable method to analyze the diffraction patterns of particle field holograms. This method permits reconstruction of in-line digital holograms beyond the Fraunhofer condition (d2/lambdaz approximately/= 10). We show that the diameter of spherical particles is measured with good accuracy. Simulation and experimental results are presented.


In small fragmented plant populations, reproductive failure due to pollen limitation is often attributed to spatial isolation of individuals. While flowering time has been shown to affect seed set, its role in pollen limited fragmented populations is less understood. In this study, we quantified near‐neighbour distances, flowering phenology, and how they interact to affect seed set in individual plants. We followed the daily flowering phenology of over 2400 heads on over 500 Echinacea angustifolia individuals and quantified the resulting seed set during three consecutive flowering seasons. The study was conducted in an experimental plot where we randomized planting locations to eliminate spatial patterns of mate availability which are common in fragmented populations of Echinacea, a self‐incompatible plant. We found that individual flowering time had a larger and more consistent effect on seed set than did spatial location. Seed set in the earliest flowering plants exceeded seed set in the latest by 46–70% in all three years. The role of spatial isolation, characterized both by individual distance to conspecific plants and by location in the plot, was less consistent and showed a weaker relationship with seed set than did flowering phenology. The most isolated plants set 20–27% less seed than the least isolated plants in 2005–2006 with no difference in 2007. In one year, we quantified seed set by floret position within a flowering head. We found significant positional effects; however, effects due to flowering time were much greater. These results were more consistent with the pollen limitation hypothesis than the resources limitation hypothesis. Synthesis. Our results illustrate that flowering time and distance to neighbouring conspecifics can cause reproductive failure in fragmented populations, even in the absence of mate limitation caused by mating incompatibility. These findings suggest that flowering time may be an underappreciated contributor to reproductive failure in small fragmented populations.


In 'Digital disaster, cyber security, and the Copenhagen school', published in 2009, Lene Hansen and Helen Nissenbaum suggest ways in which securitization theory can help understand the politics of cybersecurity and cyberwar. What was significant about Hansen and Nissenbaum's article was the way it attempted to add new approaches and questions to a topic that tended to occupy a space in an often highly technical discourse of security, technology and strategy, a discourse that extended in to all aspects of life in a digitizing society. This article asks: What should international relations scholars be doing in addition to the challenge and task – to become more interdisciplinary in order to be able to engage with the potential technification and hypersecuritizations of cybersecurity policy and discourse – that was set out in Hansen and Nissenbaum's article?


Isotopic variation for traditional elements (H, C, N, O and S) has been widely used in the past 40 years in Earth and planetary sciences to study many processes with an emphasis on environments where fluids are present (e.g., Valley and Cole 2011). More recent developments have allowed high-precision measurements of isotope ratios of what has been called non-traditional elements (i.e., Mg, Si, Fe, Zn, Cu, Mo), which are usually less fractionated than traditional elements by at least an order of magnitude (see this volume). These non-traditional stable isotopes can give insights on processes where fluids are not present (e.g., metal–silicate fractionation, e.g., Georg et al. 2007 and review by Poitrasson et al. 2017, this volume), evaporation processes during planetary formation (e.g., Paniello et al. 2012, Wang and Jacobsen 2016, and review by Moynier et al. 2017 this volume), igneous differentiation (e.g., Williams et al. 2009; Sossi et al. 2012; and review by Dauphas et al. 2017, this volume), and on biological processes (e.g., Walczyk and von Blanckenburg 2002, and review by Albarede et al. 2017 this volume).

Among all these non-traditional isotopic systems, Mg isotopes are of major importance because (i) Mg is a major constituent of the silicate portion of planetary bodies, (ii) Mg has more than two isotopes (24Mg, 25Mg and 26Mg) allowing to study processes leading to various types of mass fractionation (Young et al. 2002; Young and Galy 2004; Davis et al. 2015) and (iii) 26Mg excesses produced by the radioactive decay of short-lived 26Al (T1/2=0.73 Ma) (Lee et al. 1976) are a key tool for early Solar system chronology (see reviews by Dauphas and Chaussidon 2011; Chaussidon and Liu 2015). Note that in addition, significant Mg isotopic …


Field observations and time series of vegetation greenness data from satellites provide evidence of changes in terrestrial vegetation activity over the past decades for several regions in the world. Changes in vegetation greenness over time may consist of an alternating sequence of greening and/or browning periods. This study examined this effect using detection of trend changes in normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) satellite data between 1982 and 2008. Time series of 648 fortnightly images were analyzed using a trend breaks analysis (BFAST) procedure. Both abrupt and gradual changes were detected in large parts of the world, especially in (semi‐arid) shrubland and grassland biomes where abrupt greening was often followed by gradual browning. Many abrupt changes were found around large‐scale natural influences like the Mt Pinatubo eruption in 1991 and the strong 1997/98 El Niño event. The net global figure – considered over the full length of the time series – showed greening since the 1980s. This is in line with previous studies, but the change rates for individual short‐term segments were found to be up to five times higher. Temporal analysis indicated that the area with browning trends increased over time while the area with greening trends decreased. The Southern Hemisphere showed the strongest evidence of browning. Here, periods of gradual browning were generally longer than periods of gradual greening. Net greening was detected in all biomes, most conspicuously in croplands and least conspicuously in needleleaf forests. For 15% of the global land area, trends were found to change between greening and browning within the analysis period. This demonstrates the importance of accounting for trend changes when analyzing long‐term NDVI time series.


The Data Protection Regulation proposed by the European Commission contains important elements to facilitate and secure personal data flows within the Single Market. A harmonised level of protection of individual data is an important objective and all stakeholders have generally welcomed this basic principle. However, when putting the regulation proposal in the complex context in which it is to be implemented, some important issues are revealed. The proposal dictates how data is to be used, regardless of the operational context. It is generally thought to have been influenced by concerns over social networking. This approach implies protection of data rather than protection of privacy and can hardly lead to more flexible instruments for global data flows.


Abstract Human factors certification criteria are being developed for large civil aircraft with the objective of reducing the incidence of design-induced error on the flight deck. Many formal error identification techniques currently exist which have been developed in non-aviation contexts but none have been validated for use to this end. This paper describes a new human error identification technique (HET – human error template) designed specifically as a diagnostic tool for the identification of design-induced error on the flight deck. HET is benchmarked against three existing techniques (SHERPA – systematic human error reduction and prediction approach; human error HAZOP – hazard and operability study; and HEIST – human error In systems tool). HET outperforms all three existing techniques in a validation study comparing predicted errors to actual errors reported during an approach and landing task in a modern, highly automated commercial aircraft. It is concluded that HET should provide a useful tool as a adjunct to the proposed human factors certification process.


The differences between monthly mean values of the observed geomagnetic field and monthly values predicted by different models of the internal geomagnetic field (named "model biases") for the time period 2000-2015 at several geomagnetic observatories are analyzed. We notice that increasing the maximum degree of the model is not always followed by the decrease of such "model bias". The time series of these "model biases" reduced by their average resulted to be approximately the same for all models and should represent the external (non-modeled) contribution to the observed geomagnetic field. These time series for different observatories (close or away to each other) are compared and their power spectra are analyzed. Such spectra have common features like the annual and semi-annual variation with some possible sporadic cases of seasonal variation.


We present a comparison between the well-known spectral optical coherence tomography (SOCT) technology and the fast-Fourier-transform-based (FFT-based) impulse-response reconstruction method (FIRRM), which we developed—both in the transmission configuration. It is shown that, since the transmission configuration requires relatively long interferometers, the SOCT measurements are less stable than those of the FIRRM, as seen in the impulse-response reconstruction of the two methods. The FIRRM results show much better agreement with theoretical predictions.


Smart home environments have evolved to the point where everyday objects and devices at home can be networked to give the inhabitants new means to control them. Advances in digital electronics have enable the development of small in size and communicate in short distances sensor nodes.They are low-cost, low-power and multifunctional. The sensor nodes consist of sensing, data processing, and communication components, leverage the idea of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) based on collaborative effort of a large number of nodes. There are a large number of researches dealing with WSN applications, but it is still possible to explored in WSN development and maintenance. This paper examines the possibility of integration WSN and the service robots into a smart home application. The service robots can be considered to be mobile nodes that provide additional sensorial information, improve/repair the connectivity and collect information from wireless sensor nodes. On the other hand, the WSN can be considered as an extension of the sensorial capabilities of the robots and it can provide a smart environment for the service robots.


IN OCTOBER 1818, THE ANONYMOUSLY-PUBLISHED PAMPHLET HYPOCRISY Unveiled, and Calumny Detected proclaimed that Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine was "the vilest production that ever disfigured and soiled the annals of literature"--an impressive accomplishment for a periodical that was barely one year old. While the indignant author (whom we now know to be Macvey Napier) condemned the magazine for the "unmixed love of evil" evident in the magazine's personal attacks and harsh reviews, he also criticized its unorthodox style: [T]here is something in the style and manner of the two principal writers that has contributed to give a temporary consequence to this Magazine. Nobody will say that this something is comprehension, or judgment, or sincerity, or any other of the virtues either of style or morals.... With good memories, some fancy, and an overflowing bitterness of heart, these writers have hitherto contrived to please the malicious,--to dazzle and astonish the less informed, or, in other words, the greater portion of their readers. They have employed by turns the florid, the prurient, and the obscure style, each of which is calculated to impose upon a pretty numerous class.... In these compositions the design seems to be, like that recommended in the art of sinking in poetry, to form a labyrinth out of which nobody can get clear but the authors themselves. (1) Conceding that the outrageous and glittering artifice of Blackwood's attracted the attention of a considerable (if undesirable) audience, Napier charged that the magazine intentionally defied comprehension and moral standards in favor of stylistic flash; his reference to Alexander Pope's Peri Bathous, Or the Art of Sinking in Poetry stressed the perceived superficiality and confusion. Two years later, the editor of the London Magazine, John Scott, voiced similar concerns about the baffling style of Maya (as Blackwood's was called), declaring that Blackwood's "forms the most foul and livid spot, indicative of an accursed taint in the literature of the day." Like Napier, Scott objected in part to Blackwood's' confounding humor, claiming that the journal "assumed the externals of harlequinade and buffoonery" and, through its frequent publication of anonymous and pseudonymous pieces, created "a mystification ... for dishonest purposes, and under cowardly motives." (2) For readers like Napier and Scott, then, Blackwood's was objectionable not only because its humor treated subjects roughly, but also because its elaborate jokes and ironic tone--the lack of sincerity noted by Napier--intentionally confused its audience. In this essay, I explore the ways that Blackwood's defended its controversial style against such critiques. Although the magazine often resorted to mocking its critics, I contend that a striking and systematic vindication of its methods appears in a June 1822 review of the German philosopher Jacob Dousterswivel's treatise Theorie der Betrug, or Theory of Imposture. This piece defends the elusive style of Blackwood's by suggesting that it trains readers to stay alert to and aware of the possibility of other, more serious impostures, and in so doing makes them better interpreters of both texts and people. According to the reviewer, Blackwood's' hoaxes are educational tools, not dangerous deceptions. Yet the Dousterswivel review is not a straightforward defense of Blackwood's: it is a hoax, a phony review of a book that was never written. The Theory of Imposture is itself an imposture. Not only was there no German philosopher called Jacob Dousterswivel, but the surname alludes to Hermann Dousterswivel, a charlatan from Walter Scott's 1816 novel The Antiquary. The sophisticated defense of Maga's style is thus embedded within an especially mystifying example of that style. The complexity of the Dousterswivel hoax and other mystifications perpetuated by Blackwood's leads me to my second claim, which is that the purpose and significance of the magazine's obscure humor and elaborate jokes are best understood within the framework of the aesthetic concept known as Romantic irony. …


The synthesis of 4-methyl-2,6-di(pyrazol-1-yl)pyridine (L) and four salts of [FeL2]X2 (X– = BF(4)(–), 1; X– = ClO(4)(–), 2; X– = PF(6)(–), 3; X– = CF3SO(3)(–), 4) are reported. Powder samples of 1 and 2 both exhibit abrupt, hysteretic spin-state transitions on cooling, with T(1/2)↓ = 204 and T(1/2)↑ = 209 K (1), and T(1/2)↓ = 175 and T(1/2)↑ = 193 K (2). The 18 K thermal hysteresis loop for 2 is unusually wide for a complex of this type. Single crystal structures of 2 show it to exhibit a Jahn–Teller-distorted six-coordinate geometry in its high-spin state, which would normally inhibit spin-crossover. Bulk samples of 1 and 2 are isostructural by X-ray powder diffraction, and undergo a crystallographic phase change during their spin-transitions. At temperatures below T(1/2), exposing both compounds to 10(–5) Torr pressure inside the powder diffractometer causes a reversible transformation back to the high-temperature crystal phase. Consideration of thermodynamic data implies this cannot be accompanied by a low → high spin-state change, however. Both compounds also exhibit the LIESST effect, with 2 exhibiting an unusually high T(LIESST) of 112 K. The salts 3 and 4 are respectively high-spin and low-spin between 3 and 300 K, with crystalline 3 exhibiting a more pronounced version of the same Jahn–Teller distortion.


Objective There is growing evidence to support the association of gluteal muscle strength deficits in individuals with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) and the effectiveness of gluteal strengthening when treating PFPS. In additiona, an impressive body of work evaluating gluteal electromyography (EMG) has recently emerged, further supporting the importance of gluteal muscle function in PFPS. This systematic review synthesises these EMG findings in order to better understand the role of gluteal muscle activity in the aetiology, presentation and management of PFPS. Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Knowledge and Google Scholar databases were searched in September 2011 for prospective and case–control studies evaluating the association of gluteal EMG with PFPS. Two independent reviewers assessed each paper for inclusion and quality. Means and SDs were extracted from each included study to allow effect size calculations and comparison of results. Results Ten case–control, but no prospective studies were identified. Moderate-to-strong evidence indicates gluteus medius (GMed) activity is delayed and of shorter duration during stair negotiation in PFPS sufferers. In addition, limited evidence indicates GMed activity is delayed and of shorter duration during running, and gluteus maximus (GMax) activity is increased during stair descent. Conclusions Delayed and shorter duration of GMed EMG may indicate impaired ability to control frontal and transverse plane hip motion. Further research evaluating the value of gluteal muscle activity screening in identifying individuals most likely to develop PFPS, and the effectiveness of interventions targeting changes to gluteal muscle activation patterns is needed.


Investors use research provided by broker-dealers, also known as sell-side research, to help formulate trading ideas and strategies. Investors normally pay for sell-side research through brokerage commissions. Recent European Union regulations require some institutional investment managers to unbundle, or pay separately for research and trade execution. Unbundling might subject a U.S. broker-dealer to regulation under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, significantly affecting the broker's business practices. The Securities and Exchange Commission provided temporary no-action relief to avoid potential conflicts between U.S. and EU law while it considers whether to engage in rulemaking on the issue. The outcome could have a substantial effect on the quality of the securities markets. This article argues that investors should have the option to bundle or unbundle payment for sell-side research without affecting the broker's regulatory status and suggests ways to achieve that outcome.


This report analyzes the influence of agrarian transformations on the feminization of agricultural production in rural Tajikistan. It explores women's multiple labor relations for meeting basic needs of the household. The evidence shows that households have to depend on more types of agricultural work to secure day-to-day as well as long-term livelihood security. Overall, feminization appears in different types and groupings. The implication is that women in agriculture might not be adequately targeted in policies or integrated within intervention programs.


The main purpose of these experiments was the prevention of congenital malformations in offspring of alloxan-diabetic mice by insulin injections administered during pregnancy. The optimum dose of insulin and timing of its administration are described for mice made hyperglycemic by injection of alloxan of 80 mg. per kilogram of body weight. Copulated female mice were given alloxan intravenously on the fourth day of gestation, followed by 0.4 units of Lente insulin every twelve hours beginning thirty to thirty-six hours after alloxan injection, and continuing until the sixteenth day of gestation. The control group was given only the alloxan injection on the fourth day of gestation. Pregnant mice were sacrificed on the nineteenth day of gestation; fetuses were removed by laparotomy and examined for external defects and skeletal deformities. In fifty successful pregnancies treated with insulin, only one fetus (0.2 per cent) of 472 was malformed with a cleft palate; in fifty successful pregnancies given alloxan alone fourteen or 28 per cent of mice had one or more malformed fetuses. Altogether, twenty-two or 5.0 per cent of 437 fetuses in the latter group had malformations which included craniorhachischisis (seven fetuses), cleft palate (six fetuses), club foot (five fetuses), spina bifida, anencephalus, open eye, microphthalmia and skeletal deformities in one or more fetuses. The difference between the alloxan group and insulin treated group in the number of mothers having malformed fetuses, and in the number of malformed fetuses produced was statistically significant according to the chi-square test with a probability level of less than 0.01. In the alloxan group, increased body weight associated with advancing pregnancy was less advanced in mice having malformed fetuses than in those having normal fetuses. The foregoing tendency was also statistically significant with a probability level less than 0.01. However, no appreciable correlation was observed between the magnitude of hyperglycemia of mother mice and the frequency of fetuses with congenital malformations.


An objective multivariate technique is described for identification of individual tigers Panthera tigris from their pugmarks. Tracings and photographs of hind pugmarks were obtained from 23 pugmark-sets of 19 individually known tigers (17 wild and two captive tigers). These 23 pugmark-sets were then divided into two groups, one of 15 pugmark-sets for model building and another of eight pugmark-sets for model testing and validation. A total of 93 measurements were taken from each pugmark along with three gait measurements. We used CV ratio, F -ratio and removed highly correlated variables to finally select 11 variables from these 93 variables. These 11 variables did not differ between left and right pugmarks. Stepwise discriminant function analysis (DFA) based on these 11 variables correctly classified pugmark-sets to individual tigers. A realistic population estimation exercise was simulated using the validation dataset. The algorithms developed here correctly allocated each pugmark-set to the correct individual tiger. The effect of extraneous factors, i.e. soil depth and multiple tracers, was also tested and pugmark tracings compared with pugmark photographs. We recommend collecting pugmarks from soil depths ranging between 0.5 and 1.0 cm, and advocate the use of pugmark photographs rather than pugmark tracings to eliminate the chance of obtaining substandard data from untrained tracers. Our study suggests that tigers can be individually identified from their pugmarks with a high level of accuracy and pugmark-sets could be used for population estimation of tigers within a statistically designed mark–recapture framework.


Standard questions in the theory of administrative law involve the allocation of power among legislatures, courts, the President, and various types of agencies. These questions are often heavily informed by normative commitments to particular allocations of governmental authority among the three branches of the national government. These discussions, however, are incomplete because agencies are typically treated as unitary entities. In this essay, we examine a different question: How does administrative law allocate power within agencies? Although scholars have sometimes cracked open the black box of agencies to peer inside, their insights are localized and confined to particular contexts. We will generalize the idea, attempting to show that administrative law allocates power both horizontally and vertically within agencies, and offering some hypotheses about the nature of the resulting effects. Horizontally, administrative law directly or indirectly determines the relative influence within agencies of various types of professionals - lawyers, scientists, civil servants, politicians, and others. Vertically, administrative law directly or indirectly determines the relative influence within agencies of appointed agency heads, mid-level bureaucrats, and line personnel. This perspective illuminates several of the most puzzling judicially-developed principles and doctrines of administrative law, including the doctrines surrounding Chenery, Chevron, Mead, and Accardi, as well as agency structures and procedures established by statute or executive order. The internal allocation perspective offered here both improves upon and critiques existing justifications for these developments and in that sense points the way toward a superior understanding of administrative law.


Bespoke microscopes often require control of multiple hardware devices and precise hardware coordination. It is also desirable to have a control solution that is scalable to more complex systems and translatable between components from different manufacturers. Here we report Python-Microscope, a free and open source Python library for high performance control of arbitrarily complex and scalable bespoke microscopes. Python-Microscope offers an elegant pythonic software platform to control microscopes, abstracting differences between physical devices by providing a defined interface for different device types. These include cameras, filter wheels, light sources, deformable mirrors, and stages. Concrete implementations are provided for a range of specific hardware and a framework is in place for further expansion. Python-Microscope supports the distribution of devices over multiple computers while maintaining synchronisation via highly precise hardware triggers. We discuss the architecture choices of PythonMicroscope that overcome the performance problems often raised against Python and demonstrate the different use cases that drove its design: its integration in user facing projects, namely in the Microscope-Cockpit project; in controlling complex microscopes at high speed while using the Python programming language; and as a microscope simulation tool for software development.


This paper presents a new method for the measurement of distributed polarization mode dispersion (PMD) in optical fibers. This method uses a polarization optical time-domain reflectometer (P-OTDR), and is based on a measurement of the degree of polarization of the backscattered light as a function of distance in the fiber. Both the average and the statistics of the degree of polarization are used to estimate the two relevant parameters for measuring PMD, namely, the beat length and the coupling length. At present, our P-OTDR gives qualitative results only. However, it enables to distinguish between high and low PMD sections in a long fiber link. This should already have practical applications, in particular for the characterization of installed fibers.


The landscape strategy to deal with climate change has become an important issue in the process of sustainable urban development in the world. Particular focus is given to the charleston Peninsula in South carolina, uSa, which faces floods due to inefficiency in stormwater collection systems, increased frequency of intense rain events, excessive impervious surfaces, tide cycles, etc. In addition, hurricane events and sea-level rise are considered sources of flood risk in the coastal areas of the peninsula. This research draws on existing urban stormwater management theory to argue that the blue and green water ecological network system in the built-up area represents an innovative approach to alleviate flooding and promote a healthy landscape during urban renewal. according to the analysis of hydrological characteristics, the peninsula is divided into 17 basins, and then each basin is studied separately. Within Basin 8, the potential block is divided into four types of functional stormwater management units (fast flow zone, absorption containment zone, additional digestion zone, and upstream interception zone) and connected by a reintegrated drainage system. finally, the corresponding micro-landscape strategy is proposed according to the block property. functional units simultaneously undertake the functions of rainwater management and landscape activities. In the end, the new active-recreation space and passive-recreation space in the network are connected with the original urban green space and provide the city with a series of unique ecosystem services to support urban drainage systems and human health. It is hoped this research will provide an attempt for future urban stormwater management from the perspective of landscape planning and design.


A frequent abnormally in temporal lobes (TL) resected for pharmacoresistant elilepsy is the presence of heterotopic neurons within white matter (WM). We compared heterotopic neuron density in 22 TLs surgically resected from epilepsy patients with TLs from 22 non-neurologic cases obtained at autopsies. Neuronal density was assessed on LFB-PAS–stained and parallel sections immunoreacted for microtubule-associated-protein-2 (MAP-2). The white matter area was outlined by an image analysis system. Neurons, identified by morphologic features, were counted within the marked area. Results are expressed as mean ± SD neurons/mm2. LFB/PAS sections: Epilepsy cases 4,11 ± 1.86, Autopsy (normal) 2.35 ± 0.96; MAP-2 sections: Epilepsy cases 4.08 ± 1.22, autopsy (normal) 1.68 ± 0.92 (significant at 0.05 level by Wilcoxon's Rank Sums test). The lower number of MAP-2-immunopositive neurons in the control group as compared with the histologically identified group is most likely the result of antigen degradation resulting from an increased postmortem interval. These results indicate that normal TLWM contains a heterotopic population of neurons, and that this neuronal density is significantly higher in epilepsy patients. It is felt that this increased neuronal density is an epiphenomenon rather than the cause of seizures, and may be the result of decreased white matter either secondary to disruption of myelination, or loss of neurons as part of mesial temporal sclerosis.


In this work we verify that portfolio rebalancing can generate an excess return under certain market conditions. In line with existing measures, developed specifically to capture that alpha (Rebalancing Bonus), we show that high volatility as well as low correlation maximize the magnitude of the excess return. However, in contrast to previous works, we demonstrate that the actual driver and therefore sufficient condition for a Rebalancing Bonus is the presence of relative mean-reversion. All results in the present note are supported via numerical simulations and a case study on global equities.


In Greifensee (Switzerland), Daphnia galeata × hyalina hybrids cooccur with both parental taxa. Hybrids are the most abundant taxon, suggesting that hybrids have greater fitness. In addition to many known factors that promote hybrids, specific environmental conditions favoring parentals must also exist to explain their cooccurrence. We investigated the influence of the protozoan gut parasite Caullerya mesnili on the D. galeata × hyalina species complex. Up to 22% of the Daphnia population was infected with C. mesnili in October 2002. C. mesnili dramatically reduced the fecundity of its hosts. Only 2% of infected individuals carried eggs compared with 70% in the uninfected group, which suggests that C. mesnili exerts a strong selection pressure. Our results indicate that hybrids were frequently infected, whereas parental D. galeata were almost never infected. We also found genetic variation for infection within hybrids, evidenced by significant differences in clonal composition between the infected and uninfected parts of the taxon. Resistance of D. galeata might counterbalance the greater fitness of hybrids and therefore contribute to the maintenance of coexistence of hybrids and parentals in this lake.


Abstract. The Schwartzenbourg castle is a Middle-Ages fortress which was built in 1261. It is situated above the valley of Munster in Alsace, France. It was mainly used as a fortified place and a jail. In the early 15th century, the structure has deteriorated. Even after some repairs, it fell into ruins during the Thirty Years' war (1618-1648) and stayed uninhabited. During World War I, the German army used the place as a vantage point and also built a blockhouse inside the ruins. Nowadays, the ruins are gradually collapsing and the remains of the old walls are completely covered by thick plants. The goal of this project was to create a 3D-model of the site before closing its access, which became too dangerous for people. This modelling is divided into two elements: on one hand, a digital terrain model (DTM) of the site in order to replace the castle and to analyze the background of its original environment; on the other hand, a 3D modelling of the ruins of the castle invaded by the vegetation. Indeed, the main difficulty of the measurement is obviously the dense vegetation which hides the castle. Held back for years outside the castle, it has now become an integral part of the ruins. This vegetation is finally today usually the first threat of heritage buildings. After a preliminary inspection of the site as well as difficulties of the project, the first step consisted of the survey of the whole environment of the site. We will therefore describe the different phases of the survey with the initial implementation of a georeferenced network on site. We will present the terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) surveys, then complementary surveys carried out by aerial photogrammetry. To be implemented, we had to wait for an advanced autumn in order to have as few leaves on trees as possible. The major step of processing of point clouds described in this paper is then the extraction of a DTM by using techniques to pass through the vegetation, or better to segment the points into different classes, one of these that would be the soil i.e. DTM, another consists into wall parts of the ruins.


Published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in the summer of 1998, this work aims to capture the spirit of the motorcycle and the passion and excitement it has aroused in film, literature, television, and on the road. It depicts 100 models from the first - the 1885 Daimler Einspur - to recent concept bikes. Among those selected on both technical and aesthetic grounds are the 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller 1500cc, the pivotal BMW R32, the late-1920s four-passenger Boehmerland/Czechie, the popular 1950s Honda 50 Super Cub, the quintessentially American 1977 Harley Davidson XLCR, and the Ducati 916. Each bike is described in detail, and the book also contains essays which discuss motorcycle-related films, fashion, life-style and history.


Large-scale distributed data management with P2P systems requires the existence of similarity operators for queries as we cannot assume that all users agree on exactly the same schema and value representations and data quality problems due to spelling errors and typos. In this paper, we present an approach for efficient processing of similarity selections and joins in a structured overlay. We show that there are several possible strategies exploiting DHT features to a different extent (i.e., key organization, routing, multicasting) and thus the choice of the best operator implementation in a given situation (selectivity, data distribution, load) should be based on cost information allowing the system to estimate the computation and communication costs of query execution plans. Hence, we present a cost model for similarity operations on structured data in a DHT and demonstrate the efficiency of our proposal by experimental results from a large-scale PlanetLab deployment


The New York Times was once considered the gold standard in American journalism and the most trusted news organization in America. Today, it is generally understood to be a vehicle for politically correct ideologies, tattered liberal pieties, and a repeated victim of journalistic scandal and institutional embarrassment. In Gray Lady Down, the hard-hitting follow up to Coloring the News, William McGowan asks who is responsible for squandering the finest legacy in American journalism. Combining original reporting, critical assessment and analysis, McGowan exposes the Times' obsessions with diversity, "soft" pop cultural news, and countercultural Vietnam-era attitudinizing, and reveals how these trends have set America's most important news icon at odds with its journalistic mission--and with the values and perspectives of much of mainstream America. Gray Lady Down considers the consequences--for the Times, for the media, and, most important, for American society and its political processes at this fraught moment in our nation's history. In this highly volatile media environment, the fate of the Times may portend the future of the fourth estate.


Protein cages are hollow protein nanoparticles, such as viral capsids, virus-like particles, ferritin, heat-shock proteins and chaperonins. They have well-defined capsule-like structures with a monodisperse size. Their protein subunits can be modified by genetic engineering at predetermined positions, allowing for example site-selective introduction of attachment points for functional groups, catalysts or targeting ligands on their outer surface, in their interior and between subunits. Therefore, protein cages have been extensively explored as functional entities in bionanotechnology, as drug-delivery or gene-delivery vehicles, as nanoreactors or as templates for the synthesis of organic and inorganic nanomaterials. The scope of functionalities and applications of protein cages can be significantly broadened if they are combined with synthetic polymers on their surface or within their interior. For example, PEGylation reduces the immunogenicity of protein cage-based delivery systems and active targeting ligands can be attached via polymer chains to favour their accumulation in diseased tissue. Polymers within protein cages offer the possibility of increasing the loading density of drug molecules, nucleic acids, magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents or catalysts. Moreover, the interaction of protein cages and polymers can be used to modulate the size and shape of some viral capsids to generate structures that do not occur with native viruses. Another possibility is to use the interior of polymer cages as a confined reaction space for polymerization reactions such as atom transfer radical polymerization or rhodium-catalysed polymerization of phenylacetylene. The protein nanoreactors facilitate a higher degree of control over polymer synthesis. This review will summarize the hybrid structures that have been synthesized by polymerizing from protein cage-bound initiators, by conjugating polymers to protein cages, by embedding protein cages into bulk polymeric materials, by forming two- and three-dimensional crystals of protein cages and dendrimers, by adsorbing proteins to the surface of materials, by layer-by-layer deposition of proteins and polyelectrolytes and by encapsulating polymers into protein cages. The application of these hybrid materials in the biomedical context or as tools and building blocks for bionanotechnology, biosensing, memory devices and the synthesis of materials will be highlighted. The review aims to showcase recent developments in this field and to suggest possible future directions and opportunities for the symbiosis of protein cages and polymers.


The thesis begins with the sociological proposition that time is socially constructed. As such, time interacts with, and is affected by anything that makes up the social world. Information technologies have become an essential element of contemporary organisations. This is a study of how information technology affects the temporality of work in organisations. To address the question, we conducted case studies in organisations where temporal impacts of KTNET, an EDI application, were investigated and their sociological and organisational implications were analysed. Six dimensions of temporal order (duration, sequence, temporal location, deadline, cycle and rhythm) were employed to describe temporal changes in the work under study. Five major findings emerged from the case studies. - KTNET increased the flexibility in some export administrative work. - The distinction between internal and external flexibilities was more difficult to discern than expected. - KTNET increased the polychronicity of some workers in organising their work time, which contradicts the result of a previous study; close scrutiny of the two results leads to the theory of a temporal symmetry in which information technologies provide a temporal symmetry either between temporal behaviour of events/tasks and temporal behaviour of workers, or between different work groups' temporal behaviour. - KTNET tended to affect social relations between individuals or functional departments. - Finally, new temporal adjustments, especially of temporal location, were made between transacting organisations. The study increases knowledge in information systems research by raising a fresh issue of how computers affect temporality in organisational work and initiating a study on cultural impacts of information systems which could be applied in practice. It also makes contributions to management and organisation studies on temporality by devising a new classificatory scheme of studies on time and building a theory of temporal symmetry.


Optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging is a high resolution and non-invasive imaging modality that provides cross-sectional images of a tissue. The time of flight in the signal processing of the OCT system is calculated based on a constant refractive index. Different layers of the complex tissues however have different refractive indices. This issue prompts pixels in the image to be misplaced and that makes it difficult for the physicians to have an accurate diagnosis of abnormalities based on OCT imaging, e.g., in measurement of the thickness of skin layers. In this paper, we propose a novel post-processing method to correct for the refractive index. The proposed method is based on imaging a tissue to which a needle has been penetrated.


This is the first and introductory lecture of EuroCollege's legendary online-course "EU governance and policies (EU-INTRO). It is a course covering all the basics of the EU: it gives and overview of decision-making process and provides introduction to all the policy fields. The course is available in Estonian and in English. Course code: P2EC.00.150 or P2EC.00.165 lecturer: Viljar Veebel


Maternity wear is a garment, specifically designed for the pregnant woman. It should have enough space to accommodate all bodily changes throughout pregnancy period. It must nurture both, the mother and the baby [1]. It should be useful in first trimester to last trimester period. At the same time it must enhance the beauty of the mother. This can be obtained by applying technical skills such as designing, drafting, cutting and construction of a garment. This research is an attempt to develop an adaptive and caring maternity garment. The research methodology includes home visit and visit at maternity hospital to know existing problems of expectations of the pregnant women. This input's given by them will help in developing a comfortable maternity wear. Women's being aesthetically conscious, the garments will definitely help them to further glorify them self. During pregnancy, female body undergoes lot of physical changes, especially on the bust and the hip. There is also a gradual growth of the biceps and thighs [2]. To address these needs, women tend to buy oversized garments, which do not provide the proper horizontal and vertical fittings [3]. These garments won't satiate all the required needs. Hence, this research is intended to solve the above mentioned issues. A special emphasis has been given to the rural and semi-urban female population.