Reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental context of Martian sedimentary rocks is central to studies of ancient Martian habitability and regional palaeoclimate history. This paper reports the analysis of a distinct aeolian deposit preserved in Gale crater, Mars, and evaluates its palaeomorphology, the processes responsible for its deposition, and its implications for Gale crater geological history and regional palaeoclimate. Whilst exploring the sedimentary succession cropping out on the northern flank of Aeolis Mons, Gale crater, the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity encountered a decametre‐thick sandstone succession, named the Stimson formation, unconformably overlying lacustrine deposits of the Murray formation. The sandstone contains sand grains characterized by high roundness and sphericity, and cross‐bedding on the order of 1 m in thickness, separated by sub‐horizontal bounding surfaces traceable for tens of metres across outcrops. The cross‐beds are composed of uniform thickness cross‐laminations interpreted as wind‐ripple strata. Cross‐sets are separated by sub‐horizontal bounding surfaces traceable for tens of metres across outcrops that are interpreted as dune migration surfaces. Grain characteristics and presence of wind‐ripple strata indicate deposition of the Stimson formation by aeolian processes. The absence of features characteristic of damp or wet aeolian sediment accumulation indicate deposition in a dry aeolian system. Reconstruction of the palaeogeomorphology suggests that the Stimson dune field was composed largely of simple sinuous crescentic dunes with a height of ca 10 m, and wavelengths of ca 150 m, with local development of complex dunes. Analysis of cross‐strata dip azimuths indicates that the general dune migration direction and hence net sediment transport was towards the north‐east. The juxtaposition of a dry aeolian system unconformably above the lacustrine Murray formation represents starkly contrasting palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions. Stratigraphic relationships indicate that this transition records a significant break in time, with the Stimson formation being deposited after the Murray formation and stratigraphically higher Mount Sharp group rocks had been buried, lithified and subsequently eroded.


[About the book]

This book provides a fully contextualised overview on aspects of visual culture, and how this was the product of patronage, politics, and religion in some European countries between the 13th and 17th centuries. The research that is showcased here offers new perspectives on the conception, production and reception of artworks as a means of projecting core values, ideals, and traditions of individuals, groups, and communities. This volume features contributions from established scholars and new researchers in the field, and examines how art contributed to the construction of identities by means of new archival research and a thorough interdisciplinary approach. The authors suggest that the use of conventions in style and iconography allowed the local and wider community to take part in rituals and devotional practices where these works were widely recognized symbols. However, alongside established traditions, new, ad-hoc developments in style and iconography were devised to suit individual requirements, and these are fully discussed in relevant case-studies. This book also contributes to a new understanding of the interaction between artists, patrons, and viewers in Medieval and Renaissance times.


Methods of preserving nucleic acids are increasingly in demand because of the recent advances in molecular and biochemical approaches to ecology. The RNA storage reagent RNAlater® was tested as an alternative method to deep‐freezing for preserving RNA and DNA in zooplankton. Artemia spp. nauplii were used as test organisms. Individual RNA and DNA contents were monitored over a time period of 8 months to evaluate the effects of preservation and storage. Treatments included (1) freezing at −80±C, (2) preservation with RNAlater, followed by storage at 5±C, and (3) preservation with RNAlater and storage at room temperature. Freezing at −80±C was the only treatment that did not result in significant change from the initial values in any of the nucleic acids, nor at any time of the experiment. At 5±C, significant RNA degradation was not observed until 8 months after preservation while no significant changes in DNA were detected. In samples stored in RNAlater without refrigeration, RNA did not exhibit significant decrease for at least 1 month, and DNA for at least 2 months. As RNA and DNA degraded at roughly the same rate, this resulted in little or no changes in RNA:DNA ratios, but withintreatment variability increased strongly. Thus, RNAlater successfully preserved both RNA and DNA for up to 1 month at room temperature, and up to 4 months at 5±C, providing an alternative to the deep freezing. This method will enable a greater integration of molecular methods in ecological studies.


Much of the subject matter regarding religion in early Africa seems alien to someone living in the modern Western world. Everything has its own explanation and cause in nature. We still fear things like the flu, earthquakes, or illnesses, but we know now that they have natural rather than supernatural causes. People acting strangely are the result of malicious spirits, our ancestors live somewhere beyond our own shores and the gods must frequently be placated to keep them happy. It was a fundamentally different worldview than what the West believes today.


How can youth be educated and empowered to become responsible food citizens? Evidence from a university-community partnership with youth in Michigan is presented to illuminate participatory approaches to youth engagement in food systems. We found that youth have valuable knowledge to enhance our understanding of food environments. At the same time, obstacles such as an ethos of individualism may stand in the way of youth seeing themselves as food citizens capable of improving their food environment. Cultivating youth food citizens must take into consideration youths' particular knowledge, while also helping them uncover their social responsibilities.


Benchmarking is a key activity in building and tuning data management systems, but the lack of reference workloads and a common platform makes it a time consuming and painful task. The need for such a tool is heightened with the advent of cloud computing--with its pay-per-use cost models, shared multi-tenant infrastructures, and lack of control on system configuration. Benchmarking is the only avenue for users to validate the quality of service they receive and to optimize their deployments for performance and resource utilization. In this talk, we present our experience in building several adhoc benchmarking infrastructures for various research projects targeting several OLTP DBMSs, ranging from traditional relational databases, main-memory distributed systems, and cloud-based scalable architectures. We also discuss our struggle to build meaningful micro-benchmarks and gather workloads representative of real-world applications to stress-test our systems. This experience motivates the OLTP-Bench project, a batteries-included benchmarking infrastructure designed for and tested on several relational DBMSs and cloud-based database-as-a-service (DBaaS) offerings. OLTP-Bench is capable of controlling transaction rate, mixture, and workload skew dynamically during the execution of an experiment, thus allowing the user to simulate a multitude of practical scenarios that are typically hard to test (e.g., time-evolving access skew). Moreover, the infrastructure provides an easy way to monitor performance and resource consumption of the database under test. We also introduce the ten included workloads, derived from either synthetic micro benchmarks, popular benchmarks, and real world applications, and how they can be used to investigate various performance and resource-consumption characteristics of a data management system. We showcase the effectiveness of our benchmarking infrastructure and the usefulness of the workloads we selected by reporting sample results from hundreds of side-byside comparisons on popular DBMSs and DBaaS offerings.


BACKGROUND
Gastric emptying in the first 2 h after 7 ml kg(-1) of sugared clear fluid has recently been investigated in healthy children using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This study aims to compare gastric volume and emptying half-life during 1 h after 3 or 7 ml kg(-1) sugared clear fluid intake.

METHODS
Fourteen healthy volunteer children aged 11.1 (8.2-12.5) yr were investigated prospectively after administration of 3 and 7 ml kg(-1) diluted raspberry syrup in a randomized order, after overnight fasting (baseline). Gastric content volume (GCV(w)) was assessed with a 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner in a blinded fashion. Data are presented as median (range) and compared using the Wilcoxon test.

RESULTS
Baseline GCV(w) was 0.39 (0.04-1.00) and 0.34 (0.07-0.75) before intake of 3 and 7 ml kg(-1) syrup, respectively (P=0.93). GCV(w) was 0.45 (0.04-1.55)/1.33 (0.30-2.60) ml kg(-1) 60 min after ingestion of 3/7 ml kg(-1) syrup (P=0.002). Thus GCV(w) had declined to baseline after 3 ml kg(-1) (P=0.39) but not after 7 ml kg(-1) (P=0.001) within 60 min. T(1/2) was 20 (10-62)/27 (13-43) min (P=0.73) after 3/7 ml kg(-1).

CONCLUSION
In healthy volunteer children, residual GCV(w) 1 h after intake of 3 ml kg(-1) syrup is significantly smaller than that after 7 ml kg(-1) and within the range of baseline.


BACKGROUND
It is unclear how the quality and quantity of abdominal symptoms and anorectal function differ between irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients and healthy controls, and whether different anorectal function in patients is associated with abdominal symptoms in IBS.

METHODS
Fifty-two outpatients with IBS and 12 healthy controls kept daily symptom records over 1 week. At the end of the week, anorectal function was assessed by manovolumetry before and after a standard fatty meal. Patients were divided into symptom and manovolumetric subgroups using a cluster analysis and also into those below (hypersensitive) and those within (normosensitive) the 95% confidence interval of the controls' mean for maximal tolerable distension (MTD).

RESULTS
Regardless of subgroup, the patients were distinguished from the controls by pain, bloating, straining and incomplete evacuation. Compared with controls, MTD was lower in the pain/bloating subgroup characterized by considerable pain and the bowel habit subgroup characterized by hard stools, variable stool consistency and heavily disturbed stool passage. Preprandial rectal hypersensitivity was highly prevalent in this bowel habit subgroup. No similar association with the pain/bloating subgroup was found. Patients and controls showed a significant and similar postprandial decrease in MTD.

CONCLUSIONS
IBS is distinguished from health by pain, bloating, straining and a feeling of incomplete evacuation. Baseline rectal hypersensitivity is associated with constipation-like bowel habit. Increased rectal sensitivity after a meal and/or preceding distension is a normal reaction unimportant in the genesis of symptoms in IBS.


This paper is based on on-going research carried out in the framework of an EU project aimed at enhancing knowledge management (KM) in enterprises. It deals with the impact of intercultural factors on the accessibility and presentation of eLearning content. It reports on preliminary findings and discusses the issues which have emerged so far in the contextual study and requirements analysis conducted in preparation for designing Webbased training modules. Once the empirical research is completed and the data analyzed, guidelines will be proposed for developing Web-based training modules for culturally heterogeneous user groups sharing the same professional background. Special consideration will be given to interactive and community features.


As part of its efforts to promote awareness of energy-efficiency in water-production and distribution companies in the Philippines, the Alliance to Save Energy (ASE) partnered with two provincial public water utility companies, one of which was the Metropolitan Cebu Water District in Cebu City. With the application of a methodology developed by the ASE and the Energy Research Institute (TERI) of India, a Watergy audit was performed on the submersible pumps of production wells within a selected raw water system of the MCWD, situated in the town of Talamban, Cebu City. The results of the audit led to the identification of opportunities for improvement of the pumps' performance and the formulation of recommended feasible measures toward attaining energy-efficiency. Key terms: Energy Efficiency, Watergy, Specific Energy Consumption (SEC)


The successful development of software continues to be of central interest, both as an
academic topic and in professional practice. Consequently, several software
development approaches and methodologies have been developed and promoted over
the past decades. However, despite the attention given to the subject and the
methodical support available, software development and how it should be practiced
continue to be controversial.
This thesis examines how beliefs about software development come to be socially
established as legitimate, and how they come to constitute software development
practices in an organization. It is argued that the emergence of a dominant way of
conceiving of and practicing software development is the outcome of power relations
that permeate the discursive practices of organizational actors. The theoretical
framework of this study is guided by Pierre Bourdieu's theory of symbolic violence
and organizational discourse theory.
As a research method, ethnographic research techniques are utilized as part of a case
study to gain deep insights into the standardization of software development
practices. The research site is the IT division of a large financial services
organization and is composed of ten units distributed across eight countries. The
tumultuous development of a knowledge management programme intended to
institutionalize a standard software development process across the organization's
units provides the case for this research.
This thesis answers the call for studies providing detailed accounts of the sociopolitical
process by which technically oriented practices are transferred and
standardized within organizations. It is submitted that a discourse theoretical
approach informed by Bourdieu's thinking enables us to conceptualize this process in
a more meaningful, and theoretically rigorous, manner. In providing this theoretical
approach, the thesis seeks to contribute to current research on technology and
innovation management, and to offer guidance on some issues concerning the
management of the software development process.


"During 30 years, we have grown by encompassing the most deprived neighbourhoods of Fortaleza to form the large Conjunto Palmeiras. As a result, we contributed to reducing the poverty of many people. Our community is an example of income distribution. Our inhabitants do not have the same income as many others living in richer parts of Fortaleza, but they have at least a minimum yield, they are motivated and they feel like citizens. We have also created a huge network of community banks in Brazil and we are serving as an example for many other developing countries. This is a very different reality from 1973, when the community was a slum, in the middle of a swamp. We recognize the valuable accomplishment but we need to reflect: fourteen years ago, when we created Banco Palmas, we wished to avoid the diversion of resources from Conjunto Palmeiras to other localities in order to reduce impoverishment. Now, we have another challenge: we need to find ways to bring in resources from outside and, at the same time, to keep our people motivated to generate wealth inside the community."


Background and aim Most patients with pancreatic cancer present with advanced disease and die within the first year after diagnosis. Predictive biomarkers that signal the presence of pancreatic cancer in an early stage are desperately needed. We aimed to identify new and validate previously found plasma metabolomic biomarkers associated with early stages of pancreatic cancer. Methods The low incidence rate complicates prospective biomarker studies. Here, we took advantage of the availability of biobanked samples from five large population cohorts (HUNT2, HUNT3, FINRISK, Estonian biobank, Rotterdam Study) and identified prediagnostic blood samples from individuals who were to receive a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer between one month and seventeen years after blood sampling, and compared these with age- and gender-matched controls from the same cohorts. We applied 1H-NMR-based metabolomics on the Nightingale platform on these samples and applied logistic regression to assess the predictive value of individual metabolite concentrations, with gender, age, body mass index, smoking status, type 2 diabetes mellitus status, fasting status, and cohort as covariates. Results After quality assessment, we retained 356 cases and 887 controls. We identified two interesting hits, glutamine (p=0.011) and histidine (p=0.012), and obtained Westfall-Young family-wise error rate adjusted p-values of 0.43 for both. Stratification in quintiles showed a 1.5x elevated risk for the lowest 20% of glutamine and a 2.2x increased risk for the lowest 20% of histidine. Stratification by time to diagnosis (<2 years, 2-5 years, >5 years) suggested glutamine to be involved in an earlier process, tapering out closer to onset, and histidine in a process closer to the actual onset. Lasso-penalized logistic regression showed a slight improvement of the area under the Receiver Operator Curves when including glutamine and histidine in the model. Finally, our data did not support the earlier identified branched-chain amino acids as potential biomarkers for pancreatic cancer in several American cohorts. Conclusion While identifying glutamine and histidine as early biomarkers of potential biological interest, our results imply that a study at this scale does not yield metabolomic biomarkers with sufficient predictive value to be clinically useful per se as prognostic biomarkers.


"A great truth wants to be criticized, not idolized." Nietzsche "Do Universals have any reference?" "If so, what is it that they refer to?" These are philosophical questions. It could be argued that they are the philosophical questions. A particular, and admittedly strong, reading of the philosophical tradition, could suggest that there have been two major generative moments of its history. These were the Socratic-Platonic birth of philosophy, and secondly, German idealism, born from Kant's critical philosophy. But both these moments were intimately tied to the question of the possibility and nature of universals. Socrates' whole project turned around how, when one asks, "what is x?" (e.g.: courage, temperance, virtue, etc.), it is unsatisfactory as an answer to list particular examples of x-- ness. He set his method and meaning up in avowed opposition to the sophists, who defended different variants of what we would now call moral and epistemic relativism. Likewise, Kant was awoken from his dogmatic slumbers by Humean skepticism concerning the possibility of universals. Through his critical project, Kant defends the wonder of the starry skies above, and the moral law within, and both of these on grounds of a philosophical reclaiming of a universal dimension to human knowing and doing. Against Hume, Kant suggests that we could not have the awareness of the natural world that we do, were we not always already in possession of categories whose scope is universal and a priori, and that condition the possibility equally of the natural world and our knowledge of it. In the practical philosophy, an irremovable part of what we mean when we speak of morality, Kant argued, is that its dictums have a universal validity, vouched for by reason alone. This essay means to broach the question: are there universals?-or, given the difficulty of opening one's mouth without invoking universal predicates and names, to what might these contentious terms refer? Are especially sortals (identifying names of types) and especially the more grandiose universals (such as "mind," "person," "nation," or "people") perhaps only the misleading semblances of names? Can their "reference," such that it is, not be broken down, without remainder, into particular simples, so they could be properly discarded by a rigorous philosophical language? Or is there something to them, some referent, perhaps? Can we not hear in them, properly, some surplus of meaning over the given particulars they name, that is irreducible? Two things about the birth of philosophy in Plato, and its modern apotheosis in German idealism, are relevant for this essay. I want and need to stress these, before turning to the exposition. The first is that, in both classical Greek philosophy, and German idealism, the question concerning the possibility and nature of referents for universals resounds in two registers. The first is a veridical, or ontological register. When one asks "what is the referent of the universals?" one wants to know about the way the world is, and/or how we can know about "what there is." In Plato, the answer one gets is that a universal is an eidos, or form. Aristotle shares Plato's ontological realism, while being skeptical of its metaphysical, Pythagorean figuring in a story about birth and rebirth, and some wholly extrasensible realm. Universals have reference to traits and even identifying essences, but these inhere in the things themselves. But my point is that this is not the only way that one asks the question. The second register of the question "could there perhaps be some universal referents?" in both Kant and classical philosophy, was a moral one. Socrates was primarily concerned with the "human things," and asked repeatedly about the nature of the virtues. In Plato, if the forms provide the ontological answer to the question of universals, the form of the Good was in some way for him the highest form (cf. The Republic, 509b). …


Online learning, often supported through online discussion, is not only a popular means of supporting off-campus learners, but increasingly has a place within campus-based learning courses. Laurillard and others suggest that there are assumptions being made about learning through online discussion that have yet to be fully tested, and therefore there is a need to examine this area further. Tutors and learners may benefit from having a greater insight and understanding of how engaging in asynchronous online discussion presents opportunities for learning on an individual and a collective basis. This research study focused on learners' engagement with online discussion and their perceptions of how engaging in online discussion impacts on learning. This paper revisits learning through online discussion and proposes a framework, which emerges from the analysis of learners' experiences. A grounded theory approach was used in the collection and analysis of six learner case studies within a higher education setting, exploring learners' interactions in online discussion, and their perceptions of learning through online discussion. Insights into the learners' interactions were provided by the learners themselves through semi-structured interviews. The grounded approach to the analysis of the interviews enabled the learners' voices to be heard in terms of what they thought about learning through online discussion. The insight enabled through the depth of description from the learners and the examination of the online interactions led to the development of a framework for learning through online discussion. The framework raises the importance of articulation as a key process in learning whilst highlighting the opportunities for collaborative informed thinking by engaging with the ideas of others. The focus given to the learning process through the framework will be of interest to tutors and learners who use online asynchronous discussion environments for learning. Keywords: computer mediated communication; learners' experiences; asynchronous discussion; grounded theory


A general technique for quasi phase matching of nonlinear frequency conversion in molecular gases through the dynamically structured nonlinear optical response of a molecular ensemble is presented. We show that the transient molecular alignment created by an ultrafast alignment pulse can be controlled to periodically modulate the strength of the nonlinear optical susceptibility in the reference frame of a fundamental pulse propagating through the aligned molecules. Simulations show efficient third harmonic generation of an ultrafast fundamental laser pulse.


The essential OpenRefine guide that takes you from data analysis and error fixing to linking your dataset to the Web Overview Create links between your dataset and others in an instant Effectively transform data with regular expressions and the General Refine Expression Language Spot issues in your dataset and take effective action with just a few clicks In Detail Data is supposed to be the new gold, but how can you unlock the value in your data? Managing large datasets used to be a task for specialists, but you don't have to worry about inconsistencies or errors anymore. OpenRefine lets you clean, link, and publish your dataset in a breeze. Using OpenRefine takes you on a practical tour of all the handy features of this well-known data transformation tool. It is a hands-on recipe book that teaches you data techniques by example. Starting from the basics, it gradually transforms you into an OpenRefine expert. This book will teach you all the necessary skills to handle any large dataset and to turn it into high-quality data for the Web. After you learn how to analyze data and spot issues, we'll see how we can solve them to obtain a clean dataset. Messy and inconsistent data is recovered through advanced techniques such as automated clustering. We'll then show extract links from keyword and full-text fields using reconciliation and named-entity extraction. Using OpenRefine is more than a manual: it's a guide stuffed with tips and tricks to get the best out of your data. What you will learn from this book Import data in various formats Explore datasets in a matter of seconds Apply basic and advanced cell transformations Deal with cells that contain multiple values Create instantaneous links between datasets Filter and partition your data easily with regular expressions Use named-entity extraction on full-text fields to automatically identify topics Perform advanced data operations with the General Refine Expression Language Approach The book is styled on a Cookbook, containing recipes - combined with free datasets - which will turn readers into proficient OpenRefine users in the fastest possible way. Who this book is written for This book is targeted at anyone who works on or handles a large amount of data. No prior knowledge of OpenRefine is required, as we start from the very beginning and gradually reveal more advanced features. You don't even need your own dataset, as we provide example data to try out the book's recipes.


We present the stellar and gaseous kinematics of an Sb galaxy, NGC 3223, with the aim of determining the vertical and radial stellar velocity dispersion as a function of radius, which can help to constrain disk heating theories. Together with the observed NIR photometry, the vertical velocity dispersion is also used to determine the stellar mass-to-light (M/L) ratio, typically one of the largest uncertainties when deriving the dark matter distribution from the observed rotation curve. We find a vertical-to-radial velocity dispersion ratio of σz/σR = 1.21 ± 0.14, significantly higher than expectations from known correlations, and a weakly-constrained Ks-band stellar M/L ratio in the range 0.5-1.7, which is at the high end of (but consistent with) the predictions of stellar population synthesis models. Such a weak constraint on the stellar M/L ratio, however, does not allow us to securely determine the dark matter density distribution. To achieve this, either a statistical approach or additional data (e.g. integral-field unit) are needed. Based on observations collected at the European Southern Observatory, Chile, under proposal 68.B-0588.


Overall mortality, incidence of sudden unexpected death, and cause of death were determined in 601 adult outpatients with epilepsy at a tertiary referral centre. The patients were followed up from 1990 to 30 June 1993. There were 24 deaths among the 601 patients (1849 patient years) with a standardised mortality ratio of 5.1 (95% confidence interval 3.3-7.6) of which 14 were related to epilepsy. Underlying disease of which epilepsy was a symptom accounted for four deaths only. An incidence of sudden deaths (including seizure related) was of the order of 1:200/year. In conclusion, excess mortality in chronic epilepsy is more likely to be related to the epilepsy itself than to underlying pathology. The relatively high incidence of sudden deaths found in this hospital based cohort has important implications for patient management.


Adrenal function in harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardii) was evaluated using adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) stimulation tests and fecal cortisol levels. The effect of ACTH administration on plasma cortisol and aldosterone levels in five free-living and 14 rehabilitated harbor seal pups was determined using enzyme immunoassay and radioimmunoassay, respectively. In free-living seals, injection of ACTH caused a significant increase in mean plasma cortisol but not of mean aldosterone levels 60 min postinjection. In these seals, mean initial plasma aldosterone was significantly higher than initial levels in rehabilitated seals, while initial cortisol levels were similar. Of the rehabilitated seals, eight died with adrenal cortical necrosis associated with herpesvirus inclusions, while six lived to be released. In the seals that were released, both mean initial cortisol levels and response to ACTH decreased through rehabilitation. In the seals that died, mean initial cortisol and response to ACTH increased through rehabilitation. The differences between initial cortisol levels in seals that lived and those that died were significant at weeks two and four of rehabilitation but not at the week of admission. There was considerable individual variation in initial plasma aldosterone levels and responses to ACTH, although initial aldosterone levels were significantly higher in rehabilitated seals that died than in seals that lived. Seals with adrenal necrosis associated with herpesvirus infection did not have decreased adrenal hormone responses to ACTH. Differences between initial hormone levels and responses to ACTH in different groups of seals may be associated with differing stress levels. Fecal cortisol assays were not a useful method of assessing adrenal function in these seals, as measured levels did not correlate with plasma cortisol levels.


Do corporate donations enhance shareholder wealth or reflect agency problems? We address this question for a global sample of firms whereby we distinguish between charitable and political donations, as well as between donations in cash and in kind. We find that charitable donations are positively related to financial performance and firm value, which is consistent with the value-enhancement hypothesis. This positive effect on firm value is stronger for cash than in-kind donations. In contrast, political donations do not appear to enhance shareholder value, but rather tend to reflect agency problems, as they are higher for firms with poor internal corporate governance and strong managerial entrenchment. We address endogeneity concerns by using peer firms' donations as an instrument in a two-stage least squares (2SLS) setting and by conducting a difference-in-difference analysis around a general election.


Abstract Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, responsible for ∼1.5 million fatalities in 2018, is the deadliest infectious disease. Global spread of multidrug resistant strains is a public health threat, requiring new treatments. Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are plausible candidates as potential drug targets, because they play an essential role in translating the DNA code into protein sequence by attaching a specific amino acid to their cognate tRNAs. We report structures of M. tuberculosis Phe-tRNA synthetase complexed with an unmodified tRNAPhe transcript and either L-Phe or a nonhydrolyzable phenylalanine adenylate analog. High-resolution models reveal details of two modes of tRNA interaction with the enzyme: an initial recognition via indirect readout of anticodon stem-loop and aminoacylation ready state involving interactions of the 3′ end of tRNAPhe with the adenylate site. For the first time, we observe the protein gate controlling access to the active site and detailed geometry of the acyl donor and tRNA acceptor consistent with accepted mechanism. We biochemically validated the inhibitory potency of the adenylate analog and provide the most complete view of the Phe-tRNA synthetase/tRNAPhe system to date. The presented topography of amino adenylate-binding and editing sites at different stages of tRNA binding to the enzyme provide insights for the rational design of anti-tuberculosis drugs.


Background: Cardiac surgery is frequently complicated by coagulopathic bleeding that is difficult to optimally manage using standard hemostatic testing. We hypothesized that point-of-care hemostatic testing within the context of an integrated transfusion algorithm would improve the management of coagulopathy in cardiac surgery and thereby reduce blood transfusions.

Methods: We conducted a pragmatic multicenter stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial of a point-of-care–based transfusion algorithm in consecutive patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass at 12 hospitals from October 6, 2014, to May 1, 2015. Following a 1-month data collection at all participating hospitals, a transfusion algorithm incorporating point-of-care hemostatic testing was sequentially implemented at 2 hospitals at a time in 1-month intervals, with the implementation order randomly assigned. No other aspects of care were modified. The primary outcome was red blood cell transfusion from surgery to postoperative day 7. Other outcomes included transfusion of other blood products, major bleeding, and major complications. The analysis adjusted for secular time trends, within-hospital clustering, and patient-level risk factors. All outcomes and analyses were prespecified before study initiation.

Results: Among the 7402 patients studied, 3555 underwent surgery during the control phase and 3847 during the intervention phase. Overall, 3329 (45.0%) received red blood cells, 1863 (25.2%) received platelets, 1645 (22.2%) received plasma, and 394 (5.3%) received cryoprecipitate. Major bleeding occurred in 1773 (24.1%) patients, and major complications occurred in 740 (10.2%) patients. The trial intervention reduced rates of red blood cell transfusion (adjusted relative risk, 0.91; 95% confidence interval, 0.85–0.98; P =0.02; number needed to treat, 24.7), platelet transfusion (relative risk, 0.77; 95% confidence interval, 0.68–0.87; P <0.001; number needed to treat, 16.7), and major bleeding (relative risk, 0.83; 95% confidence interval, 0.72–0.94; P =0.004; number needed to treat, 22.6), but had no effect on other blood product transfusions or major complications.

Conclusions: Implementation of point-of-care hemostatic testing within the context of an integrated transfusion algorithm reduces red blood cell transfusions, platelet transfusions, and major bleeding following cardiac surgery. Our findings support the broader adoption of point-of-care hemostatic testing into clinical practice.

Clinical Trial Registration: URL: . Unique identifier: [NCT02200419][1].

# Clinical Perspective {#article-title-46}

 [1]: /lookup/external-ref?link_type=CLINTRIALGOV&access_num=NCT02200419&atom=%2Fcirculationaha%2F134%2F16%2F1152.atom


Puccinia boroniae is a rust fungus that infects some species and cultivars of the Australian native shrub, Boronia. Due to its commercial viability as a cut flower, many species and varieties of Boronia are now cultivated throughout south Western Australia. This increase in genetically uniform plantings of Boronia has led to high levels of rust infection being reported and is now considered the most prominent problem faced by Boronia growers in Western Australia. As current control methods are inadequate for eradicating the fungus, research into the host specificity and diversity of P. boroniae was initiated. The extent of variation among 27 isolates of Puccinia boroniae collected from cultivated Boronia within the south west of Western Australia was investigated using PCR-RFLPs and a comparison of teliospore dimensions. Several infection methods were also assessed such that the host specialization of isolates could be confirmed.

Genetic variation among the isolates was determined by looking at the variation in restriction sites within the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) of the nuclear ribosomal RNA gene. Amplification of the rust ITS regions in samples composed predominantly of host plant DNA was achieved using the polymerase chain reaction with primers Rustl (rust specific) and ITS5 (universal specificity). 21 out of the 27 isolates screened (78%) were successfully amplified using this primer pair, resulting in a single band of approximately 1290bp. These samples were digested with nine restriction enzymes, of which only one isolate was distinguished from the remaining population with a different restriction pattern generated using HinFI.

All infection trials conducted in temperature-controlled cabinets were unsuccessful. Uniform germination of the teliospores was a particular problem, with a germination rate of 5% and less occurring among the trials. Therefore rust biotypes based on host preferences could not be determined.

Morphological variation among Puccinia boroniae teliospores collected from two of the most economically important Boronia species was investigated. Six isolates collected from cultivated Boronia heterophylla and Boronia megastigma were measured at XlOOO. A highly significant (p<O.OOl) relationship between the two groups of rust fungi (based on host plant species) was determined using multivariate analysis of variance. On average, B. heterophylla teliospores had wider apical and basal cell widths, thinner cell walls and thinner apical papilla than teliospores isolated from B. megastigma. Discriminant function analysis of the two rust groups indicated that the combination of apical papillium thickness, apical and basal cell width and apical cell length provided the greatest level of discrimination between the two groups. Despite a highly significant relationship existing between the two groups based on these teliospore dimensions (p<0.001), the discriminant analysis indicated that teliospore dimensions alone would be insufficient to categorize unknown isolates (Wilks lambda= 0.656) and therefore could not be used as a taxonomic tool at this stage.

Overall, the data would suggest that a certain level of diversity exists among the Puccinia boroniae isolates screened. However, the level of variation seen within the ITS regions using PCR-RFLP indicates that subspecies of Puccinia boroniae are not present. Investigations into alternative rDNA and other DNA regions would be warranted. Furthermore, as the host specialization of the rust isolates analysed by teliospore morphology could not be confirmed, it would be inappropriate to further define these two rust groups as separate varieties of Puccinia boroniae.


Abstract

Background: The Sturge-Weber syndrome (SWS), a vascular disorder with leptomeningeal capillary-venous malformations, is thought to be caused by somatic mutations in the GNAQ gene. However, the relationship between SWS and epileptogenesis is still unknown.Overexpression of adenosine kinase (ADK) has been regarded as a pathologic hallmark of epilepsy. We hypothesize that abnormal expression of ADK, may play an important role in
epileptogenesis of SWS patients with refractory epilepsy.

Methods: Immunnohistochemistry was used to examine the expression of adenosine kinase (ADK) in cortical specimens from patients with SWS (n=12), and compared with control cortical tissue.

Results: Consistent with previous studies, astrogliosis and the loss of neuronal cells were demonstrated in the lesions area of SWS. In addition, it was first time to reveal the overexpression of ADK, both neuronal and astroglial, with a predominant cytoplasmic localization, in patients with SWS.

Conclusion: These results suggest that over-expression of ADK is a common pathologic hallmark of SWS, which may be crucial in the epileptogenesis of SWS.


Approval from the United Nations or NATO appears to have become a necessary condition for US humanitarian military intervention. Conventional explanations emphasizing the pull of legitimacy cannot fully account for this given that US policymakers vary considerably in their attachment to multilateralism. This article argues that America's military leaders, who are consistently skeptical about humanitarian intervention and tend to emphasize its costs, play a central role in making multilateral approval necessary. As long as top-ranking generals express strong reservations about intervention and no clear threat to US national security exists, they can veto the use of force. In such circumstances, even heavyweight "humanitarian hawks" among the civilian leadership, who initially may have wanted to bypass multilateral bodies to maximize US freedom of action, can be expected to recognize the need for UN or NATO approval—if only as a means of mollifying the generals by reassuring them about the prospect of sustained multilateral burden sharing. Two case studies drawing on interviews with senior civilian and military officials illustrate and probe the plausibility of the argument.


A new research paradigm in healthcare applications investigates how to improve a patient's quality of care with wearable embedded systems that continuously monitor a patient's vital signs as he/she ubiquitously moves about the environment. While previous medical examinations could only extract localized symptoms through snap shots, now continuous monitoring can discretely analyze how a patient's lifestyle may affect his/her physiological conditions and whether additional symptoms occur under various stimuli. The Advanced Health and Disaster Aid Network (AID-N) used participatory design methods to develop an electronic triage system that replaced the paper triage system and changed how emergency personnel interact, collect, and process data at mass casualty incidents. My research investigated the design of an infrastructure that provided efficient resource allocation by continuously monitoring the vital signs and locations of patients. Medical embedded systems called electronic triage tags contained noninvasive, biomedical sensors (pulse oximeter, electrocardiogram, and blood pressure) that facilitated the seamless collection and dissemination of data from the incident site to key members of the emergency response community. In a mass casualty drill, paramedics were able to triple the number of times they reassessed patients and efficiently manage resources with the electronic triage system. This real world deployment uncovered numerous research challenges that arose from the complex interactions of the embedded systems with the dynamic environment that they were deployed in. I address the challenge of body attenuation by constructing a model of attenuation in body sensor networks from experimental data. I also use data driven methods to address the challenge of limited storage capacity in mobile embedded systems during network partitions. An algorithm models inter-arrival time, intra-arrival time, and body attenuation to achieve efficiency in storage capacity. My approach mitigates data loss and provides continuous data collection through a combination of optimization, statistical variance, and data driven modeling techniques. In addition, I also leverage statistical variance techniques to detect the physical tampering of portable systems. A data driven approach that uses quantitative information from experimental deployments is necessary when building realistic systems for medical applications where failure can result in the loss of a life.


This paper will focus on the effects of maternal substance use on the gestational development of neonates. The research for this paper will be gathered through a systematic review of the literature, which will include both quantitative and qualitative peer-reviewed articles published within the last six years. The articles will be gathered using databases including CINAHL and EBSCO. The research will include many substances that can have an effect on gestational development including alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines and opioids. The articles will not be limited to a specific maternal age range or ethnic or racial background, but rather all of the articles will include women who used substances at any point during their pregnancies. The demographics of the women and their socioeconomic status will be taken into consideration when analyzing the outcomes of the fetuses. For the purposes of this article, there will be a zero tolerance of substance use allowed during pregnancy and any use above zero would be considered abuse. The research will look into the roles of the women, their existing families and the physicians. The research will also explore the relationship between previous substance use and use during pregnancy. Some current research supports that there is a definite risk in healthy development of a fetus when substance use occurs during pregnancy. There are many outside factors, such as marital status, socioeconomic status and social class, that play a role in the resources available as well as the treatment provided to these women and fetuses. The goal of this study is to spread awareness of the effects of substance use during pregnancy and to help not only health care providers, but also women become more educated in the area, and therefore make more knowledgeable choices. Running head: EFFECTS OF MATERNAL SUBSTANCE USE II


To reach a wider audience, the Caspian Environment Programme (CEP), in close cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal, is publishing these Vital Caspian Graphics. Our ambition is to provide a broad picture, in a concise and highly visual form, of issues relevant to the environment of the Caspian Sea and the surrounding area, including security, geopolitics and the exploration of natural resources. Though easy to look at and read, the graphics are nevertheless based on reliable scientific data and facts.


Large‐eddy simulations of mixed‐phase Arctic clouds by 11 different models are analyzed with the goal of improving understanding and model representation of processes controlling the evolution of these clouds. In a case based on observations from the Indirect and Semi‐Direct Aerosol Campaign (ISDAC), it is found that ice number concentration, Ni, exerts significant influence on the cloud structure. Increasing Ni leads to a substantial reduction in liquid water path (LWP), in agreement with earlier studies. In contrast to previous intercomparison studies, all models here use the same ice particle properties (i.e., mass‐size, mass‐fall speed, and mass‐capacitance relationships) and a common radiation parameterization. The constrained setup exposes the importance of ice particle size distributions (PSDs) in influencing cloud evolution. A clear separation in LWP and IWP predicted by models with bin and bulk microphysical treatments is documented and attributed primarily to the assumed shape of ice PSD used in bulk schemes. Compared to the bin schemes that explicitly predict the PSD, schemes assuming exponential ice PSD underestimate ice growth by vapor deposition and overestimate mass‐weighted fall speed leading to an underprediction of IWP by a factor of two in the considered case. Sensitivity tests indicate LWP and IWP are much closer to the bin model simulations when a modified shape factor which is similar to that predicted by bin model simulation is used in bulk scheme. These results demonstrate the importance of representation of ice PSD in determining the partitioning of liquid and ice and the longevity of mixed‐phase clouds.


The Torre del Falasco wines are the standard bearers of this cooperative, situated in the Valpantena, northeast of Verona. Known as the 'valley of god' to the ancient Greeks, this area is well-known for its high quality red wines, due partly to the soils but also because of the cool breeze that blows down the valley from the foothills of the Dolomites. Run by Luca Degani since 1995, the Cantina di Valpantena is now one of Italy's best co-operatives, with 700 hectares of vineyard producing excellent quality fruit. Matt Thomson makes some of the Alpha Zeta wines here and has worked closely with them since 1999.


Mental imagery provides an essential simulation tool for remembering the past and planning the future, with its strength affecting both cognition and mental health. Research suggests that neural activity spanning prefrontal, parietal, temporal, and visual areas supports the generation of mental images. Exactly how this network controls the strength of visual imagery remains unknown. Here, brain imaging and transcranial magnetic phosphene data show that lower resting activity and excitability levels in early visual cortex (V1-V3) predict stronger sensory imagery. Electrically decreasing visual cortex excitability using tDCS increases imagery strength, demonstrating a causative role of visual cortex excitability in controlling visual imagery. These data suggest a neurophysiological mechanism of cortical excitability involved in controlling the strength of mental images.


Forty-one years had come and gone since the Philippine Catholic hierarchy hosted the First National Congress for Rural Development with the theme -Man and Land in the Philippines in the Light of Vatican II" on February 5 to 11, 1967. It is good to review the proposals presented then by the delegates who had offered much hope for the poor and the rural folks. Much of these proposals were translated into action which made impact on the lives of the very poor. In July 2007, the Catholic Bishops Congress of the Philippines (CBCP) Plenary Assembly approved the organizational structure of the National Rural Congress (NRC) II and the timetable of activities. Phase One consisted of two parallel local-level consultations. Diocesan (ad intra) consultations on the role of Basic Ecclesiastical Communities (BECs) in rural development were undertaken by the National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), the Episcopal Commission for Indigenous Peoples (ECIP), and the BEC offices. Here in the Mindanao Region, the Ad Intra consultations were conducted in majority of the 21 dioceses spread throughout at the level of the Basic Ecclesial Communities (BECs). Sub-regional (ad extra) consultations for Mindanao were focused on the different basic sectors facilitated by the different non-government organizations (NGOs) and peoples' organizations (POs) and the data were collated by a research team (based in Xavier University, Cagayan de Oro City) using the sub-regional focus. After the conduct of the consultations, the data generated were forwarded to the Congress Secretariat and were collated and interpreted by a research team composed of three member institutions of Davao Association of Colleges and Schools (DACS) namely the San Pedro College, Holy Cross of Davao College, and the University of Immaculate Conception. Based on the collated study reports (ad intra and ad extra) and the documented reactions of the congress participants, the root cause of the problems in Mindanao is the national governance. The problem with governance in return has resulted in environmental degradation; deadly health care system; displaced population and dysfunctional families; discrimination and violation of the rights of indigenous people; inadequate and substandard infrastructural projects; government's deceitful practices, culture of corruption, lack of trust and lack of political will; the deteriorating state of education; escalation of violence and growing incidence of criminality; and government's inaction or inefficient action on livelihood. The study identified four priority issues in Mindanao: the application of real land reform; protection of the rights of the indigenous people; morally credible governance; and the elimination of development aggression in the environment.


Banks are creatures of the market and creatures of the state. The call to reconceive banks as public utilities requires a critical redefinition, both of banks and of public utilities. Part of that redefinition must include naming the values and ends that bank regulation ought to serve. The neoclassical economists' understanding of utility regulation is founded on the value of efficiency, and the theory of price competition and natural monopolies. In some industries, economies of scale and large capital costs result more or less inevitably in monopoly, and thus competition cannot be relied on to achieve fair and efficient pricing. The neoclassical model of bank regulation does not regard banks as utilities. Systemic risk, information problems, and the moral hazard produced by public insurance are the market failures that justify bank regulation, with the primary goal being safety and soundness. Utility regulation, going back to its Progressive Era and earlier origins, values the need for continuous and universal supply of essential infrastructure to all consumers and businesses without discrimination and at reasonable prices, and to constrain the political power of oligopoly trusts and corporations. This paper will describe a progressive utility regulation model for banking as an alternative to oligopoly with limited prudential and consumer protection regulation, the current path. I will consider the problems with the progressive model of banks as utilities, including regulatory capture. Banks as utilities, broadly conceived, should be publicly governed, to provide reliable and universal payments, savings and credit services at social prices, and to reduce inequality of economic opportunity.


This thesis develops a new way of modelling atoms that behave quantum mechanically on the inside, but classically on the outside. Doing so makes modelling the salient physics tractable. Prior to this technique, treating the outside of an atom classically failed to reproduce a bedrock experiment of quantum mechanics—the Stern–Gerlach experiment. I also report on the conception and flourishing of a control and analysis software suite for experiments in quantum science. This open-source project empowers experimenters to compose human-readable narratives upon their apparatus and has been adopted by a dozen groups worldwide.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the frequency of mutations in the phospholipid binding domain of beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2GPI) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and/or antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), and to analyze the clinical correlations of such mutations with thromboembolic complications.

METHODS
Exons 7 and 8 of beta2GPI, which encode for its fifth domain, were amplified by polymerase chain reaction, and the presence of mutations was determined by restriction digestion and single-strand conformation polymorphism analysis. A clinical correlation with these mutations and the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL), lupus anticoagulant (LAC), anti-beta2GPI antibody, and the development of thromboembolic complications was performed using chi-square and Fisher's exact tests.

RESULTS
From a total of 143 patients studied, we found that 5.6% were heterozygous for the mutation at exon 7 (codon 306), and 7.7% were heterozygous for the mutation at exon 8 (codon 316). No homozygous subjects were found for either mutation. No significant correlation between these mutations and the presence of aPL, LAC, or anti-beta2GPI antibodies was found. In patients with SLE (n = 95), 4 of 6 patients with exon 8 mutation had thrombosis, compared with 22 of 82 patients without the mutation (P = 0.043).

CONCLUSION
The prevalence of mutations in the fifth domain of beta2GPI in these patients with SLE and/or APS were similar to those previously reported for the general population. Heterozygosity for either mutation does not influence the incidence of aPL, but in patients with SLE, the mutation at exon 8 may predispose to thrombosis as an independent factor.


Rabies remains an important human health and wildlife management concern worldwide. Currently, there is significant underreporting of human deaths from rabies in many parts of the world. Concerning foxes in Europe, the proportion of all cases that are observed is likely to be as low as 2−10%. Consequently predictive models have been developed to estimate the mortality attributable to rabies. When rabies penetrates a new area, there is a peak in reported cases among foxes. These pulse like events causing the spread of rabies, often due to migration, mating and other seasonal behaviors are often absent from a rabies model. We present a model which modifies an existing continuous rabies model with the addition of a discrete kick via the Dirac distribution. Furthermore noting the observed complexities in the literature and the data we study the level of complexity of the presented model and use an algorithm to demonstrate the existence of chaos via Taylor expansions and curve fitting for the stable and unstable manifold of a fixed point at the origin.


The dynamic properties for the micro-channel phase change heat transfer system are studied by theoretical method combined with experiment. Liquid–vapour interface dynamic systems are obtained by introducing disjoining pressure produced by three phase molecular interactions and Lie algebra analysis. Experiments for 0.6mm × 2mm rectangular micro-channel are carried out to obtain the pressure time serials. Power spectrum density analysis for these serials shows that the system is in chaotic state if the frequency is above 7.39Hz. The result indicates that the high heat transfer performance of the micro channel phase change system may relate to the characteristics of chaos. The chaos attractor is drawn by the simulation of the obtained differential dynamic system under the conditions of our experiment.


ABSTRACT Demographic assessments of nesting birds typically focus on failures due to nest predation or brood parasitism. Extreme weather events such as hailstorms, however, can also destroy eggs and injure or kill juvenile and adult birds at the nest. We documented the effects of a severe hailstorm on 3 species of sagebrush-associated songbirds: Sage Thrasher (Oreoscoptes montanus), Brewer's Sparrow (Spizella breweri), and Vesper Sparrow (Pooecetes gramineus), nesting at eight 24 ha study plots in central Wyoming, USA. Across all plots, 17% of 128 nests failed due to the hailstorm; however, all failed nests were located at a subset of study plots (n = 3) where the hailstorm was most intense, and 45% of all nests on those plots failed due to hail. Mortality rates varied by species, nest architecture, and nest placement. Nests with more robust architecture and those sited more deeply under the shrub canopy were more likely to survive the hailstorm, suggesting that natural history traits may modulate mortality risk due to hailstorms. While sporadic in nature, hailstorms may represent a significant source of nest failure to songbirds in certain locations, especially with increasing storm frequency and severity forecasted in some regions with ongoing climate change.


Reading is a multi-sensory activity, entailing perceptual, cognitive and motor interactions with whatever is being read. With digital technology, reading manifests itself as being extensively multi-sensory – both in more explicit and more complex ways than ever before. In different ways from traditional reading technologies such as the codex, digital technology illustrates how the act of reading is intimately connected with and intricately dependent on the fact that we are both body and mind – a fact carrying important implications for even such an apparently intellectual activity as reading, whether recreational, educational or occupational. This article addresses some important and hitherto neglected issues concerning digital reading, with special emphasis on the vital role of our bodies, and in particular our fingers and hands, for the immersive fiction reading experience.


The Penna bit string model is used as a framework for the genetic diversity investigations of continuous (every time step) and periodic mutation implementations of a semelparous population. We quantify genetic diversity using a Shannon-type measure. The absence of deaths due to mutation accumulation removes selection and results to the entire population reaching the same genome. We find that periodic mutation in this case allows the population to reach homogeneity at a much later time compared to the case of continuous mutations. Our results indicate that periodic mutation with selection has a higher genetic diversity compared to that of continuous mutation.


This Note argues that the recent shift in state court litigation from an equality claim to one of adequacy has compelled many courts to insert themselves in the discussion and creation of educational policy that was previously viewed as unacceptable. This evolution may render courts vulnerable to appellate challenges and criticisms of nonjusticiability and political question doctrine violations regarding institutional competence and judicial prudence. In addition, the demise of the equality argument diminishes the moral strength of the court's normative valuation capacity. Section I examines the history of education finance cases and reviews the three waves of litigation strategies, which evolved from an equality argument to one of adequacy. Section II explores in greater detail the concerns of state court judicial policymaking, including issues of separations of powers, justiciability and the political question doctrine. Section III analyzes the difficulties and benefits of judicial administration of the adequacy standard. Section IV examines the changes in the New York courts' jurisprudence as manifested in the equality case of Board of Education of Levittown v. Nyquist and the current adequacy case of Campaign for Fiscal Equity, Inc. v. New York. Section IV will also ascertain the effect of the standards-based education movement on litigation and jurisprudence. This Note concludes that state courts should cautiously embrace adequacy arguments because they will more likely enmesh the judiciary in the legislative realm raising questions of competence and anti-majoritarian concerns. Furthermore, the courts should not abdicate their role of articulating normative values by precluding equality challenges. Federal regulations that address disparate impact may afford state courts one means of ensuring equal educational opportunities.


A Journey with Margaret Thatcher is an extraordinary insider's account of British foreign policy under Margaret Thatcher by one of her key advisers. Providing a closeup view of the Iron Lady in action, former high-ranking diplomat Robin Renwick examines her diplomatic successes - including the defeat of aggression in the Falklands, what the Americans felt to be the excessive influence she exerted on Ronald Reagan, her special relationship with Mikhail Gorbachev and contribution to the ending of the Cold War, the Anglo-Irish agreement, her influence with de Klerk in South Africa and relationship with Nelson Mandela - and what she herself acknowledged as her spectacular failure in resisting German reunification. He describes at first hand her often turbulent relationship with other European leaders and her arguments with her Cabinet colleagues about European monetary union (in which regard, he contends, her arguments have stood the test of time better and are highly relevant to the crisis in the eurozone today). Finally, the book tells of her bravura performance in the run up to the Gulf War, her calls for intervention in Bosnia and the difficulties she created for her successor. While her faults were on the same scale as her virtues, Margaret Thatcher succeeded in her mission to restore Britain's standing and influence, in the process becoming a cult figure in many other parts of the world.


Some Old Testament scholars identify three main types of approaches to the Bible, namely, (1) theological (2) historical and (3) literary. Others would rather refer to different methods of studying the Bible, which can be linked to different worlds. Some methods focus more on the world behind the text, others on the world of the text itself, whilst yet a third group focuses more on the world in front of the text. One reads the text according to which of the three worlds one regards as the most important. Although there is truth in all of these classifications of approaches to studying the Bible and methods of doing so, the audience for whom the reading is done plays an even more important role. The different audiences often cherish different views of Scripture which can be linked to a specific paradigm and which dominates the outcome of the reading process. The fact is illustrated by investigating how the book of Jonah has been read and studied in recent years.


Background Health literacy (HL) is the degree of an individual's knowledge and capacity to seek, understand and use health information to make decisions on one's health, yet information on the functional level of cervical cancer literacy in Mayuge and Uganda as a whole is lacking. We, therefore, assessed the level of functional cervical cancer literacy among women aged 18–65 years in Mayuge district in five functional HL domains; prior knowledge, oral, print, numeracy and e-health. Understanding the factors associated with cervical cancer literacy is also pertinent to cervical health communication programming, however, no study has documented this in Uganda and particularly in Mayuge. Mayuge is a rural population based cancer registry and one of the sites for piloting cancer control interventions in Uganda. We also assessed the factors associated with cervical cancer literacy and awareness about currently available cervical cancer preventive services. Methods The study protocol was approved by the Uganda Cancer Institute research and ethic committee (UCI-REC). In August 2017, we assessed five HL domains; cervical cancer knowledge, print literacy, oral literacy using audio-clip, numeral literacy and perceived e-HL among 400 women at household levels. Correct response was scored 1 and incorrect response was scored 0 to generate the mean percentage score for each domain. The mean scores were classified as limited, basic and proficient bands based on the McCormack HL cut-offs scale for knowledge, print, oral and e-health and Weiss cut-offs in the newest vital signs (NVS) for numeracy. We used the cervical cancer literacy scores to explore the effect of selected study variables on cervical cancer literacy. We also conducted five focus group discussions (FGDs) based on the theoretical constructs of the PEN-3 model. Results The majority (96.8%) of the participants demonstrated a limited level of cervical cancer literacy with a mean score of 42%. Women who had completed a primary level of education or lower (OR = 3.91; p = 0.044) were more likely to have limited cervical cancer literacy. The qualitative data indicated that the women had limited cervical cancer literacy coupled with limited decisional, social and financial support from their male partners with overall low locus of control. Most (92.3%) of the women were not aware of the available cervical cancer services and had no intention to screen (52.5%). Conclusions The women in Mayuge in general have limited cervical cancer literacy except oral HL domain. Limited cervical cancer literacy was highest among women with lower level of education and overall literacy seemed to be influenced on the higher side by socio-cultural constructs characterised by limited decisional, social and personal resources among the women with overall low locus of control. The Mayuge women further demonstrated scant knowledge about the available health services in their district and low intention to screen. Multi-strategy cervical health empowerment programme is needed to improve cervical HL using orally disseminated messages.


Triathlon Training Fundamentals caters directly to the beginner. Triathlon Training Fundamentals presents all of the basic information needed in plain language, from why and how to get started and what events to select, to what equipment to get and how to maintain it, to how to train for each leg of the race-swimming, biking, and running. Triathlon Training Fundamentals goes beyond laying out the basics to also tackle smaller-but equally as important-topics often overlooked in other books, like how to adjust training to fit your specific needs (such as if you have health issues, or are a youth or a woman) or how to troubleshoot equipment and health issues on race day.


When Peter Tiboris asked if I would contribute to this afternoon's event, he said that he needed a title for my comments for the advertisement announcing it. I said I'd call him back and did so that very day. I wanted to title my comments "Travails" with Charlie, adding the "i" to the word "travel," but thought that such a pun might seem too negative. So I chose Travels with Charlie with apologies to John Steinbeck for stealing the title of his book. The reason I preferred travails is that hardly a week has gone by since I first came to Urbana that I haven't thought of Charles Leonhard. He is a specter who haunts me every time I enter a classroom: Is this the best I can do? Is this what Leonhard would have wanted? Would he approve? Leonhard is the only person in my life other than my parents who continues to admonish me from the grave. He has been in my head through good times and bad, occasionally yelling, "Judas Priest, Rideout! Every mother's son and daughter can do better than that." Sometimes I just hear a big belly breath of a laugh. Peter is responsible as well for the celebration he hosted for Professor Leonhard in Urbana in 2000. At the banquet he presented Leonhard with a bound volume of letters written by students reflecting on his importance in their lives. I'd like to begin by sharing my short note in that volume because it summarizes my relationship with him. Dear Professor Leonhard: I often tell people that I am the luckiest person in the world because I have had three fathers. They look at me peculiarly and I rush to explain that I had the father who reared me to be an honest man. My second father was a German Jewish musicologist who taught me to value knowledge. But my third father was Charles Leonhard and he taught me to what end that knowledge should be put. Looking back over the last 166 years of music education in American schools, one can identify certain individuals who rose to national prominence based on their theories, methods of music instruction, or the programs they implemented in their schools. The MENC Hall of Fame was created with the express intent of calling attention to those individuals whose accomplishments affected professional practice in this country. These individuals form an elite circle of music educators who have defined our sense of our selves as professionals with a history, with standards, with foundations and principles, and with the lofty intent of service to music and to society. We are not alone in this approach. In the same decade that Edwin Bailey Birge first noted the accomplishments of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century music educators, Edwin Boring was doing the same thing in the field of experimental psychology. (1) As MENC formed its Hall of Fame, Watson published his biographical history of the great psychologists. (2) Similar histories exist in medicine, law, sociology, anthropology, and all other twentieth-century "ologies." Each identifies those individuals of extraordinary accomplishment who helped shape professional practice in a discipline. Yet, for all of their efforts, very few authors capture individual personalities or provide anecdotes that illuminate the manner in which these individuals demonstrated their greatness through teaching, research, workshops, seminars, or by inspiring colleagues. Such things are remembered by students and admirers who knew the individual, worked with the individual, and who were changed through that interaction-and they share their stories over coffee, at dinner parties, and on weekends such as this one. So, with that introduction, I would like to share some ways in which Charles Leonhard affected our profession, and I want to pepper this narrative with some personal observations based on my two years here as a student in the doctoral program. When one looks at the third quarter of the twentieth century two figures come to mind most vividly: Charles Leonhard and Allen Britton. …


This work describes OU Social, an application that collects and analyses data from public Facebook groups set up by students to discuss particular Open University courses. This application exploits semantic technologies to monitor the behaviour of users over time as well as the topics that emerge from Facebook group discussions. The paper describes the architecture of OU Social and provides a brief overview of the analysis results obtained from 44 different Facebook groups examined over a 6 year period (2007-2013).


Changes in higher education, demands for accountability, and concerns over academic quality have brought increased attention to accreditation (Eaton, 2006). The growth of specialized accreditation has created numerous opportunities but also brings challenges (Tullis & Carney, 2007). The sport management discipline has recently launched an outcome-based and mission-driven accreditation organization: the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA). The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions sport management faculty and administrators have towards the potential benefits and challenges of accreditation. Surveys (N=322) were distributed and 119 useable responses were obtained. In general, respondents indicated support for COSMA but many also expressed concerns. Institutions that had joined COSMA had different perspectives than those who had not, particularly in relation to the value of external benefits such as competitive advantages and increased marketing potential. Concerns over costs...


Design and Anthropology challenges conventional thinking regarding the nature of design and creativity, in a way that acknowledges the improvisatory skills and perceptual acuity of people. Combining theoretical investigations and documentation of practice based experiments, it addresses methodological questions concerning the re-conceptualisation of the relation between design and use from both theoretical and practice-based positions.

Concerned with what it means to draw 'users' into processes of designing and producing this book emphasises the creativity of design and the emergence of objects in social situations and collaborative endeavours.

Organised around the themes of perception and the user-producer, skilled practices of designing and using, and the relation between people and things, the book contains the latest work of researchers from academia and industry, to enhance our understanding of ethnographic practice and develop a research agenda for the emergent field of design anthropology.

Drawing together work from anthropologists, philosophers, designers, engineers, scholars of innovation and theatre practitioners, Design and Anthropology will appeal to anthropologists and to those working in the fields of design and innovation, and the philosophy of technology and engineering.


The site of Myos Hormos on Egypt's Red Sea coast was an important port involved in the trade to India from the 1st-3rd centuries. Its population consisted of residents and visitors involved in selling, buying, guarding and transporting the precious trade goods, as well as taking part in associated activities to support this trade such as ship repair and provisioning. Its population reflected the extensive trade and transport connections that linked the port to India, the Nile Valley, the east coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and beyond. The arid conditions and deep rubbish dumps meant there was exceptional preservation of all organic finds including textiles, and these textiles reflect the range of people and activities that went on at the site. This paper presents the fragments of clothes that were left behind in the rubbish dumps at Myos Hormos, which give a valuable insight into the range of garments that people wore.


This was a requested chapter by the editors of this companion set of works. The chapter presents a synopsis of the development of national parks and their appeal to tourism, both as places to visit, but also places that national tourism organisations look to use to promote destinations, including their wider tourism product and opportunity. The chapter sets out the argument that all national parks are part of the wider cultural landscape of regions, and that they may have emerged from being viewed as wilderness landscapes they remain essentially cultural landscapes. The chapter also debates the challenge of managers of national parks to balance the mandates of first protection, but also second that they are spaces open for leisure, recreation and tourism to take place. In fact, with national parks being established in very developed and working landscapes, a third mandate has arisen one that states that any development within the park must be directed at benefiting local people and ensuring the sustainability and viability of local communities. The challenge of meeting this third mandate is explored in the chapter.


Most legal scholars treat capitalism as a genus with one species. The appearance of several books that argue to the contrary suggests that it is sensible to revisit this assumption. Discussion begins by considering the constructed nature of markets, the importance of market systems, and the role of financings as the factor distinguishing capitalism from other forms of a market economy. Thereafter, four articulations of the varieties of capitalism are reviewed: the classic Marxist one, one by a political economist, another by a pair of comparative political scientists, and third by a trio of economists. This review leads to a discussion of the notions of efficiency and an "institution," as well as to Schumpeter's vision of the entrepreneur and to the place of change in economic life. An examination the way varieties of capitalism manage change leads quite directly to an exploration of socialism and its relationship to capitalism. Then piece suggests that capitalisms probably vary on far more dimensions than might be derived from the understandings reviewed and that how any specific capitalism handles economic change is both crucial to an understanding of that capitalism and an important insight into the nature of the society in which it is embedded.


This article describes the restraints on biological weapons, as dictated in the 1925 Geneva Protocol and the Biological Weapons Convention, and the weaknesses of these instruments. Falk clearly argues for nonpossession as a requirement of international stability. He points out that their commitment to unconditional renunciation has been disregarded by the United States and the Soviet Union. The author concludes that the failure of major powers to comply with the rules they themselves set has encouraged emulation by the rest of the world. It is the duty of those with extensive knowledge of this weaponry to eliminate the pressure for its development.


In order to maintain quality of software products, we need to perform refactoring regularly. Code smells detection is an important step to beable to successfully conduct software refactoring. In this paper, we propose to use risk concept in assessing code smells detected in the code. As aproof of concept, we developed an automated risk based code smells detection tool. We use the tool to identify problems in a C# case study. Codesmells, such as Long Method, Long Parameter list, Message Chain and Empty Catch have been detected in the case study. Furthermore, risk factorlevel has been qualitatively associated (hi, low, Medium) with each code smell based on the frequency of occurrence and the severity of eachcode smell.


Oral probiotics potential for the management of dermatological diseases is vast. However, results of available studies in skin diseases, such as atopic dermatitis (AD), are inconsistent, partly because probiotic effects are strain specific. Careful selection of probiotic strains is therefore indispensable to ensure efficacy of treatment. In this study, Lactobacillus salivarius LA307, Lactobacillus rhamnosus LA305 and Bifidobacterium bifidum PI22, three strains that were previously identified for their interesting immunomodulatory properties in allergy and/or colitis models, were assessed in the prevention of chronic skin inflammation induced by repeated applications of 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate in hairless SKH-1 mice. Macroscopic and microscopic evaluation of skin lesions was performed together with measurements of serum levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IL-17, IL-22, IL-10 and IL-4. Daily oral treatment with the three strains at the dose of 1×109 cfu/day for 3 weeks limited the development of chronic skin inflammation, the effects being strain dependent. Indeed the two Lactobacillus strains significantly limited the intensity of skin inflammation both at the macroscopic and microscopic levels. Macroscopic observations were correlated to the histological observations and the resulting microscopic score. This limitation of the development of AD-like skin lesions involved the modulation of cytokine production. Treatment with the two Lactobacillus strains induced a decrease in the serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-17, IL-22 and at the opposite an increase in the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and also of IL-4. Globally, B. bifidum PI22 had lower benefits. These results obtained in mice suggest that L. salivarius LA307 and L. rhamnosus LA305 could be good candidates for preserving skin integrity and homeostasis via the modulation of the gut microbiota and that their use could be beneficial in dermatological conditions such as AD.


Problem. The study explored the health of organizational communication at an urban regional commuter campus of a midwestern university through use of Communication Climate, System-Semantic, and Episodic Communication Channels in Organizations (ECCO) methodologies. This combination of methodologies formed an internal audit of communication processes at the University (Spring 1992). The effectiveness of communication within the University after a 20-year period of significant internal change was studied. Method. Climate methodology measured Trust, Participative Decision-Making, Supportiveness, Openness, Listening, and Performance Goals aspects and a Composite Climate through written surveys with Faculty, Clerical and Service staff, and Administrative/Professional groups. System-Semantics methodology utilized (1) phone interviews to identify channels of communication in use and establish predictor valences (Grapevine Profile), and (2) written surveys to measure affective associations (System-Semantics Profile) in regard to selected lines of communication. Student, Faculty, Clerical/Service, Administrative/Professional groups were included. ECCO methodology measured utilization of lines of communication along functional and scalar dimensions. Serial administration of three written surveys among the Administrative/Professional group relative to message receipt, accuracy, source, flow, medium, and locus were conducted. Results. Climate methodology revealed four significant differences among the Faculty and Clerical and Service staff groups (three aspects and the Composite). Supportiveness Climate was negatively evaluated, whereas Concern for High Performance Goals Climate was positively evaluated. System-Semantics methodology revealed 19 primary channels of communication with negative valences. Channels selected for further study had neutral affective associations. One bipolar adjectival pair was found to significantly differ in use between the Student andthe Clerical and Service staff groups. Four bipolar adjectival pairs on the survey instrument were revealed as significant. ECCO methodology revealed three significant differences (flow) among functional areas and scalar levels and two significant differences (receipt, accuracy) at scalar levels of the Administrative/Professional staff in some messages. Conclusion. All methodologies were found appropriate to this study of a University's organizational communication. The study provided the University Administration with an internal communication review and its members with an avenue for expression. Implementing recommendations of the study could enhance the University's advancement and development.


This paper presents the concept of Resonant Bits, an interaction technique for encouraging engaging, slow and skilful interaction with tangible, mobile and ubiquitous devices. The technique is based on the resonant excitation of harmonic oscillators and allows the exploration of a number of novel types of tangible interaction including: ideomotor control, where subliminal micro-movements accumulate over time to produce a visible outcome; indirect tangible interaction, where a number of devices can be controlled simultaneously through an intermediary object such as a table; and slow interaction, with meditative and repetitive gestures being used for control. The Resonant Bits concept is tested as an interaction method in a study where participants resonate with virtual pendulums on a mobile device. The Harmonic Tuner, a resonance-based music player, is presented as a simple example of using resonant bits. Overall, our ambition in proposing the Resonant Bits concept is to promote skilful, engaging and ultimately rewarding forms of interaction with tangible devices that takes time and patience to learn and master.


Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, a dramatization of Plutarch's account of the death of Julius Caesar and the consequences of that event in the war waged against his assassins by Mark Antony and Octavian, is particularly admired for the elegance of its plot. The main episodes in the history as Plutarch's Lives conveys them are contained in a structure that, by line count, is shorter than any of Shakespeare's English histories and all but two of his tragedies. (1) In relation to his apparent commitment to economy in Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's inclusion in his play of two episodes involving characters identified as poets invites comment and has drawn it concertedly in three essays: Norman Holland, "The 'Cinna' and 'Cynicke' Episodes in Julius Caesar" (1960); Thomas Pughe, "'What should the wars do with these jigging fools?' The Poets in Julius Caesar" (1988); and Gary Taylor's "Bardicide" (1992). (2) A curious feature of the attention paid these scenes by all three of these essays is that none of them considers all of what is known about Cinna, the poet identified by name in Shakespeare's play. Being specific about this, however, particularly about what was known by Shakespeare of Cinna's poetry (and little more is known today than what Shakespeare knew), heightens the already remarkable effect of Shakespeare including these scenes. In this light, incidental as they remain to the historical and political questions surrounding the play's action, the poet scenes make Julius Caesar eerily predictive of the dilemmas faced by teachers of the humanities these days. Because of them, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar seems to be considering the value of poetry in a time of cataclysmic change; and it is a consideration that, typical of Shakespeare, is unflinching in its unwillingness to mount an expedient defense. Holland and Pughe avoid the questions attendant on Cinna's poetry by assuming his name is no more than a counter for the figure of a poet. In accord with the critical assumptions implicit in close reading, they justify both 3.3 (the scene depicting the death of Cinna) and lines 123-36 of 4.3 (in which an unnamed camp poet intrudes on the quarrel of Brutus and Cassius) by emphasizing thematic connections to what they define, differently, as the prevailing concerns of the play. Holland sees 3.3 and 4.3.124-38 as "play[ing] into one of the chief complexes of imagery" in the play (sleep) and underscoring an important theme in the play, "the separation between Brutus the idealist and Cassius the realist." (3) Pughe sees the "poets, together with some of the other minor figures [in the play, as] establish[ing] a metalevel of criticism on which the discourse of reason can be seen to deconstruct itself." (4) Holland, Pughe, and Taylor all notice that it is Shakespeare who makes the person who Plutarch says reconciled Brutus and Cassius in the camp scene of 4.3 into an unnamed poet, transforming him from Plutarch's "one Marcus Phaonius, that had bene a friend and follower of Cato ... and [who] tooke upon him to counterfeate a Philosopher." (5) But only Taylor, approaching the play from a more historicist perspective, acknowledges that the Cinna of 3.3 is an actual, if shadoW, figure in literary history. Noting that the poet Cinna's existence is a historical fact but that his poetry has all but vanished, Taylor argues that what Shakespeare does with the two episodes in Plutarch makes Julius Caesar "Shakespeare's Defence of Poetry." (6) He suggests, in effect, that in Julius Caesar Shakespeare is defending poetry as Sir Philip Sidney does in a treatise published under that name, The Defence of Poesie. (7) In so doing, Taylor says, Shakespeare means to distinguish genuine poetry, that is, his own, from that of writers whose topical satires and epigrams were ordered to be publicly burnt in 1599, the probable date of Julius Caesar's composition and performance. Taylor pays close attention to the changes Shakespeare makes as he adapts the episodes from Plutarch's life of Brutus, observing (somewhat tendentiously, since the detail that "poore Cinna the Poet" is "torne . …


This paper outlines the various channels through which women are part of the global trading economy. It focuses on women as consumers, workers, business owners, and informal cross-border traders. Trade theory offers rich implications for the relationship between gender and trade, but depends on patterns of consumption and production that may differ across countries. As an example, we examine the case of agricultural products, a sector in which products are consumed relatively more intensively by women than by men. The evidence shows that tariffs are higher in this sector, which means that women consumers are disadvantaged relative to men. On the other hand, the extension of export opportunities in developing countries in light manufacturing industries, such as apparel, can offer important prospects for women workers; these opportunities are often their entry point into the formal labor market, and provide an independent income that can change household power dynamics in a favorable way. New empirical evidence from developing country firms shows that internationally engaged firms tend to employ a higher proportion of women workers. However, much remains to be done. Discriminatory norms are deeply engrained in all countries, and are reflected in a global gender wage gap. Moreover, women-owned businesses, although active in the international economy, face specific obstacles that make it harder for them to grow and succeed. Although trade has the potential to support gender-inclusive growth and development, it will be important to get domestic regulatory settings right, so that a positive cycle can result.


An economic evaluation of a growth performance study (2011 Nebraska Beef Cattle Report, pp. 62-64) comparing wet or dry distillers grains with solubles (DGS) containing varying levels of sulfur was conducted. Diets containing DGS were more profitable than the control diets containing no co-product (Control). Wet DGS showed greater profitability than Control and dry DGS diets. Sulfur content in dry DGS did not affect profitability. Profits were lowest for Control and greatest for wet DGS (0.82% S) at 30% inclusion. Low sulfur concentration in wet DGS allows shipment to feedlots further away.


Whether or not among the myriad tiny protogalaxies there exists a population with similarities to present-day galaxies is an open question. We show, using BlueTides, the first hydrodynamic simulation large enough to resolve the relevant scales, that the first massive galaxies to form are predicted to have extensive rotationally supported disks. Although their morphology resembles in some ways Milky Way types seen at much lower redshifts, these high-redshift galaxies are smaller, denser, and richer in gas than their low-redshift counterparts. From a kinematic analysis of a statistical sample of 216 galaxies at redshift z = 8–10, we have found that disk galaxies make up 70% of the population of galaxies with stellar mass 10 10 M ⊙ ?> or greater. Cold dark matter cosmology therefore makes specific predictions for the population of large galaxies 500 million years after the Big Bang. We argue that wide-field satellite telescopes (e.g., WFIRST) will in the near future discover these first massive disk galaxies. The simplicity of their structure and formation history should make new tests of cosmology possible.


Book description: Wolf Liebeschuetz is one of the most distinguished, creative, and best-liked of contemporary Ancient Historians. In his fifty-year career of teaching and publication, Wolf, German-born and British-educated, has informed generations of scholars – collaborating, instructing, disputing, and commenting on research.In this volume, coinciding with his eightiethbirthday, twenty historians and archaeologistswho have known Wolf as friends, colleagues, and pupils acknowledge and celebrate his influence by presenting papers on topics related to his four monographs: Antioch: City and Imperial Administration in the Later Roman Empire (1972); Continuity and Change in Roman Religion (1980); Barbarians and Bishops (1990); and The Decline and Fall of the Roman City (2001).Four core sections cover: 'Law and Religion' (Duncan Cloud, Robert Markus, Karl Leo Noethlichs, John North, Benet Salway); 'Antioch and the East' (Hugh Elton, Geoffrey Greatrex, Doug Lee); 'Barbarians and Bishops' (Jonathan Barlow, John Drinkwater, Peter Heather, Neil McLynn); 'The City' (Simon Corcoran, Nick Henck, Luke Lavan, Andrew Poulter, Charlotte Roueche). The book opens with 'Modern Historiography' (Hartmut Leppin, Bryan Ward-Perkins) and closes with an 'Afterword' (Averil Cameron).


This article is a review about "additive manufacturing", popularized under "3D printing", and takes an inventory of the tests and metrological needs that the technology generates. It defines additive manufacturing and presents the materials used, the significance and the brakes of the technology, and application areas. It also lists and describes in detail the principle of the seven categories of processes that the technology counts.


ABSTRACT A time course analysis of SL3-3 murine leukemia virus (SL3) infection in thymus and bone marrow of NIH/Swiss mice was performed to assess changes that occur during the early stages of progression to lymphoma. Virus was detectable in thymocytes, bone marrow, and spleen as early as 1 to 2 weeks postinoculation (p.i.). In bone marrow, virus infection was detected predominantly in immature myeloid or granulocytic cells. Flow cytometry revealed significant reductions of the Ter-119+ and Mac-1+ populations, and significant expansions of the Gr-1+ and CD34+ populations, between 2 and 4 weeks p.i. Analysis of colony-forming potential confirmed these findings. In the thymus, SL3 replication was associated with significant disruption in thymocyte subpopulation distribution between 4 and 7 weeks p.i. A significant thymic regression was observed just prior to the clonal outgrowth of tumor cells. Proviral long terminal repeats (LTRs) with increasing numbers of enhancer repeats were observed to accumulate exclusively in the thymus during the first 8 weeks p.i. Observations were compared to the early stages of infection with a virtually nonpathogenic SL3 mutant, termed SL3ΔMyb5, which was shown by real-time PCR to be replication competent. Comparison of SL3 with SL3ΔMyb5 implicated certain premalignant changes in tumorigenesis, including (i) increased proportions of Gr-1+ and CD34+ bone marrow progenitors, (ii) a significant increase in the proportion of CD4− CD8− thymocytes, (iii) thymic regression prior to tumor outgrowth, and (iv) accumulation of LTR enhancer variants. A model in which disrupted bone marrow hematopoiesis and thymopoiesis contribute to the development of lymphoma in the SL3-infected animal is discussed.


The photon-scanning tunneling microscope is the photon analog to the electron-scanning tunneling microscope. It uses the evanescent field due to the total internal reflection of a light beam in a prism, modulated by a sample attached to the prism. The exponential decay of the evanescent field is characterized by the penetration depth dp and depends on the angle of incidence θ, the wavelength, and the polarization of the incident beam. The 1/e decay lengths range from 150 to 265 nm as deduced from the expression of the electric-field intensity in the rarer medium for θ = π/2. If we place another optically transparent medium near the surface, frustrated total reflection occurs. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that, if we choose an appropriate angle of incidence θ(θ ≠ π/2) and change the index of refraction of one of the media, the decay length of the electric field can be extremely small, so that images with an improved resolution can be produced.