The University of California Natural Reserve System. The mission of the Natural Reserve System is to contribute to the understanding and wise management of the Earth and its natural systems by supporting university-level teaching, research, and public service at protected natural areas throughout California. Common Ground at the Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Reserve The idea of creating a reserve on McLaughlin Mine property originated with Homestake's visionary environmental manager, Ray Krauss. In 1985, when the mine had just begun operation, Ray approached UC about the possibility of creating a reserve to be incorporated into the UC Natural Reserve System. In 1992, the first steps were taken to create a 300-acre reserve in this complex and intriguing serpentine landscape. Through 2002, students, researchers and miners respectfully coexisted on the reserve. In 2003, with the last ounce of gold poured, Homestake and the University signed an agreement expanding the reserve to 6800 acres, with the Land Trust of Napa County holding a conservation easement on the property. Homestake (now a subsidiary of Barrick Gold) will have an obvious continued presence as they conduct post-mine monitoring and reclamation. The McLaughlin Mine has been widely recognized by both environmental and mining organizations for its rigorous environmental monitoring and its innovative restoration and land management. The Donald and Sylvia McLaughlin Natural Reserve will continue the tradition of exemplary stewardship on this unique landscape. Using the Mine to Understand Invasion Biology and Restoration, during mining operations, millions of cubic yards of rock and soil were moved to reach the gold ore. Graduate students in the NSF Biological Invasions Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) are using these mountains of transplanted soil as an experimental site to test the role of propagule supply (numbers of seeds and numbers of times they are introduced) in determining the success of invasions by common weeds such as European mustard. There are also plans to use the mine's revegetation program as an opportunity to study various aspects of restoration ecology.


The rise of populist governance throughout the world offers a novel opportunity to study the way in which populist leaders and parties rule. This article conceptualises populist policy making by theoretically addressing the substantive and discursive components of populist policies and the decision-making processes of populist governments. It first reconstructs the implicit ideal type of policy making in liberal democracies based on the mainstream governance and policy making scholarship. Then, taking stock of the recent populism literature, the article elaborates an ideal type of populist policy making along the dimensions of content, procedures and discourses. As an empirical illustration we apply a qualitative congruence analysis to assess the conformity of a genuine case of populist governance, social policy in post-2010 Hungary with the populist policy making ideal type. Concerning the policy content, the article argues that policy heterodoxy, strong willingness to adopt paradigmatic reforms and an excessive responsiveness to majoritarian preferences are distinguishing features of any type of populist policies. Regarding the procedural features populist leaders tend to downplay the role of technocratic expertise, sideline veto-players and implement fast and unpredictable policy changes. Discursively, populist leaders tend to extensively use crisis frames and discursive governance instruments in a Manichean language and a saliently emotional manner that reinforces polarisation in policy positions. Finally, the article suggests that policy making patterns in Hungarian social policy between 2010 and 2018 have been largely congruent with the ideal type of populist policy making.


In the Mapungubwe landscape, the Khami phase grades into the historic Venda period. Khami occupation, however, differs markedly from recent Venda settlement. Among the differences, rainfall was more consistent in the 15 th and 16 th centuries, and the Limpopo Valley supported several thousand people living on cattle posts and in agricultural villages. In contrast, 19 th century Venda capitals virtually housed the entire chiefdom, totalling only some 350 people. A slow process of acculturation led the Venda-speaking Machete chiefdom to become Sotho. When Mapungubwe was discovered in the early 1930s, the chiefdom had already disintegrated, and the people spoke Sotho.


This study used meta-analysis to assess the influence of price/price structures on residential water demand in two selected urban areas in California: East Los Angeles and South San Francisco. Monthly usage data for the years 2002–2011 were utilized to determine and compare price elasticities for periods when uniform and tiered rates were charged using fixed effects panel regression and Instrumental Variable methods. Price elasticities in East Los Angeles and South San Francisco were −0.39 and −0.22 under uniform rates and −0.44 and 0.43 under tiered rates, respectively. When customers in each city were divided into three groups based upon their lot sizes, those with larger lot sizes tended to react to pricing systems more strongly than those living on smaller lots. These findings will be helpful for water demand stakeholders and policymakers seeking to design and implement more effective water pricing policies to support sustainable water conservation efforts.


Genital herpes simplex virus (HSV) infection during pregnancy poses a risk to the developing fetus and newborn. Genital herpes is common in the United States. Among 14to 49-year-old females, the prevalence of HSV-2 infection is 15.9%. However, the prevalence of genital herpes infection is higher than that because genital herpes is also caused by HSV-1 (1). Because many women of childbearing age are infected or will be infected with HSV, the risk of maternal transmission of this virus to the fetus or newborn is a major health concern. This document has been revised to include that for women with a primary or nonprimary first-episode genital HSV infection during the third trimester of pregnancy, cesarean delivery may be offered due to the possibility of prolonged viral shedding.


Paulo Reglus Neves Freire was born in Recife in 1921, the capital of Brazil's northeast province. Through all his life, he developed the fundamentals of a teaching process with special characteristics. The fundamentals of his 'system' point to an educational process that focuses on the student environment. abcNet is a web-based application which seeks the goals of learning how to read and to write, following Paulo Freire's methodology.


We present CoSQL, a corpus for building cross-domain, general-purpose database (DB) querying dialogue systems. It consists of 30k+ turns plus 10k+ annotated SQL queries, obtained from a Wizard-of-Oz (WOZ) collection of 3k dialogues querying 200 complex DBs spanning 138 domains. Each dialogue simulates a real-world DB query scenario with a crowd worker as a user exploring the DB and a SQL expert retrieving answers with SQL, clarifying ambiguous questions, or otherwise informing of unanswerable questions. When user questions are answerable by SQL, the expert describes the SQL and execution results to the user, hence maintaining a natural interaction flow. CoSQL introduces new challenges compared to existing task-oriented dialogue datasets: (1) the dialogue states are grounded in SQL, a domain-independent executable representation, instead of domain-specific slot value pairs, and (2) because testing is done on unseen databases, success requires generalizing to new domains. CoSQL includes three tasks: SQL-grounded dialogue state tracking, response generation from query results, and user dialogue act prediction. We evaluate a set of strong baselines for each task and show that CoSQL presents significant challenges for future research. The dataset, baselines, and leaderboard will be released at https://yale-lily.github.io/cosql.


Sarcoidosis is a chronic, systemic disease of unknown etiology that affects multiple organs. The disease was considered rare in developing countries like India. More recently sarcoidosis is being increasingly diagnosed in countries where tuberculosis continues to be endemic. There is a general perception among physicians that the prevalence of sarcoidosis has increased over the last two decades in countries like India. This may be true but could also be related to better awareness of the condition, availability of improved diagnostic facilities and the increased ability of physicians to differentiate it from tuberculosis. In India, diagnosis of tuberculosis is entertained first in patients who may have sarcoidosis and thus, it is very likely for sarcoidosis to be misdiagnosed as tuberculosis, owing to the high prevalence of tuberculosis and clinicoradiological resemblance to the disease. This editorial highlights the challenges in diagnosing tuberculosis in countries where tuberculosis still continues to be endemic.


Previous research has found various predictors for substance use treatment outcomes, such as relapse and re-entry into treatment. However, there is a distinct gap in the research on treatment outcomes for women. While gender has not been found to be a predictor in and of itself of treatment outcomes, there are distinct differences between predictors for outcomes of men and women. It is also mixed in terms of what factors are indicative of negative or positive outcomes and what is considered effective treatment. Similarly to gender, too little research has been done to efficiently investigate trauma and its role in substance use treatment and it is mixed in terms of whether treating trauma or other mental health issues is effective in substance use treatment. Another issue in the current research is its variability in what trauma is investigated (i.e. revictimization, polyvictimization, single trauma, etc.). The current study was investigated using 3, 078 women in The Comprehensive Addiction and Treatment Outcomes (CATOR) system. Thus, the present study seeks to examine the role of trauma itself, polyvictimization, and revictimization, on treatment outcomes.


Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) are utilized by many successful companies across the world. This case study describes Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications equipment company, which heavily utilizes ESOP ownership, and applies Huawei's results to describe ESOPs as a powerful tool for achieving corporate efficiency and growth. Using and analysis of Huawei's annual reports, we argue that ESOPs play a positive role in enhancing employee productivity.


Platform carbonates are among the most voluminous of Cretaceous deposits. The production of carbonate platforms fluctuated through time. Yet, the reasons for these fluctuations are not well understood, and the underlying mechanisms remain largely unconstrained. Here we document the long-term trend in Cretaceous carbonate platform preservation based on a new data compilation and use a climate-carbon cycle model to explore the drivers of carbonate platform production during the Cretaceous. We show that neritic carbonate preservation rates followed a unimodal pattern during the Cretaceous and reached maximum values during the mid-Cretaceous (Albian, 110 Ma). Coupled climate-carbon cycle modeling reveals that this maximum in carbonate deposition results from a unique combination of high volcanic degassing rates and widespread shallow-marine environments that served as a substrate for neritic carbonate deposition. Our experiments demonstrate that the unimodal pattern in neritic carbonate accumulation agrees well with most of the volcanic degassing scenarios for the Cretaceous. Our results suggest that the first-order temporal evolution of neritic carbonate production during the Cretaceous reflects changes in continental configuration and volcanic degassing. Geodynamics, by modulating accommodation space, and turnovers in the dominant biota probably played a role as well, but it is not necessary to account for the latter processes to explain the first-order trend in Cretaceous neritic carbonate accumulation in our simulations.


We will not find "exposure to burning coal†listed as the cause of death on a single death certificate, but tens of thousands of deaths from asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and other illnesses are clearly linked to coal-derived pollution. As politicians and advertising campaigns extol the virtues of "clean coal,†the dirty secret is that coal kills. In The Silent Epidemic, Alan Lockwood, a physician, describes and documents the adverse health effects of burning coal. Lockwood's comprehensive treatment examines every aspect of coal, from its complex chemical makeup to details of mining, transporting, burning, and disposal--each of which generates significant health concerns. He describes coal pollution's effects on the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems, and how these problems will only get worse; explains the impact of global warming on coal-related health problems; and discusses possible policy approaches to combat coal pollution. Coal fueled the industrial revolution and has become a major source of energy in virtually every country. In the United States, almost half of the energy used to generate electricity comes from burning coal. Relatively few people are aware of the health threats posed by coal-derived pollutants, and those who are aware lack the political clout of the coal industry. Lockwood's straightforward description of coal as a health hazard is especially timely, given the barrage of marketing efforts to promote coal as part of "energy independence.†His message is clear and urgent: "Coal-fired plants make people sick and die, particularly children and those with chronic illnesses, and they cost society huge amounts of money desperately needed for other purposes.â€


This paper presents PackUp (PACKage UPgradability with Boolean formulations) a framework for solving the the software package upgradability problem. Earlier versions of the framework (cudf2msu, cudf2pbo) participated in the 3rd MISC-live, an international competition organized by the European project MANCOOSI. The framework encodes the problem as a weighted partial MaxSAT formula and invokes a dedicated solver to solve the formula. The framework supports two types of solvers: weighted partial MaxSAT solvers and optimization pseudo-Boolean (OPB) solvers. The paper discusses the design of the framework and the specifics of the problem encoding.


The use of modern multi-functional forestry machines has already been associated with central nervous system fatigue induced by high mental workload. As these machines are being used under increasingly difficult terrain conditions, further knowledge is required on the expected aggravation of operators' mental workload, so that suitable work/rest schedules can be developed. Within such a context, the aim of this study was to gauge aggravations of mental workload derived from increasing slope gradient. Measurements of eye activity were obtained from a representative harvester operator working in corridors with the following mean inclinations: 9%, 23% and 47%. The duration, frequency and trajectory of eye movements were used to determine the harvester operator's mental workload, on the assumption that worsening work conditions would be reflected by increased eyeball activity. The number of fixations during the performance of all tasks increased with the increasing slope gradient. Similarly, fixation duration increased with slope gradient. The mean duration of saccades when working on a 23% slope was 5% shorter compared to work under a 9% gradient. A further significant shortening of saccade duration (~22%) occurred when working on a 47% slope. The good match between eye activity cycles and work cycles, visible especially on steep slopes, indicates that mental workload is related to work conditions. Overall, operating a forest harvester on steep slopes results in a greatly increased mental workload and calls for suitable rest schedules.


Background: Magnesium sulfate and propofol have been found to be effective against succinylcholine-induced fasciculations and myalgia, respectively, in separate studies. A prospective randomized double blind controlled study was designed to assess the effect of a combination of magnesium sulfate with propofol for induction of anesthesia on succinylcholine-induced fasciculations and myalgia. Materials and Methods: Randomly selected 60 adult patients scheduled for elective surgery under general anesthesia were allocated to one of the two equal groups by draw of lots. The patients of MG Group were pretreated with magnesium sulfate 40 mg/kg body weight in 10 ml volume, while patients of NS group were given isotonic saline 0.9% in the same volume (10 ml) intravenously slowly over a period of 10 min. Anesthesia was induced with fentanyl 1.5 mcg/kg and propofol 2 mg/kg, followed by administration of succinylcholine 2 mg/kg intravenously. Muscle fasciculations were observed and graded as nil, mild, moderate, or severe. Postoperative myalgia was assessed after 24 h of surgery and graded as nil, mild, moderate, or severe. Observations were made in double blind manner. Results: Demographic data of both groups were comparable (P > 0.05). Muscle fasciculations occurred in 50% patients of MG group versus in 100% patients of NS group with a significant difference (P < 0.001). After 24 h of surgery, no patient of MG group and 30% patients of NS group had myalgia with a significant difference (P < 0.002). Conclusion: Magnesium sulfate 40 mg/kg intravenously may be used with propofol for induction of anesthesia to control succinylcholine-induced fasciculations and myalgia.


Current PCB (printed circuit board)-based routing tools cannot meet the performance and cost constraints presented by today's packaging technologies, including thin-film multichip modules. The authors describe SURF, a routing system designed specifically to meet these challenges. The strength of the SURF system comes from its extremely flexible rubber-band data representation. The rubber-band model is an ideal framework for performance-driven and cost-driven routing and naturally supports rectilinear, octilinear, and all-angle wiring patterns: one-and-a-half-layer routing; even wiring distribution; and powerful manual editing. The integrated spoke-based design-rule-checking/enforcement mechanism supports an incremental design style. As objects are moved or wires are resized, the wires are adjusted incrementally so that they maintain the same wiring topology. By working in the topological domain instead of the geometrical one, the designer can focus on higher-level design issues while the tool handles the precise geometrical details.<<ETX>>


The prison population in the United States has peaked and begun to recede, reversing more than 30 years of growth. Mass incarceration is yielding to the imperative to reduce state budgets in recessionary times. As states turn away from the extravagant use of prison for nonviolent offenders, the percentage of the prison population serving long and life sentences for violent felonies will increase. By 2009 one in eleven prisoners were lifers. These are the prisoners growing old and dying in prison. High cost elderly prisoners who have aged out of crime should be good candidates for cost saving measures such as compassionate release, parole, and release through community corrections programs. This impression does not withstand scrutiny. Two thirds of elderly prisoners have been convicted of violent crimes; one quarter has been convicted of sexual offenses. Programs to reduce prison costs have indeed gained ground but they are designed for a very different population. The offender who is well positioned to avoid or leave prison as a result of cost savings policies is a young nonviolent offender; The majority of states have succeeded in reducing prison admissions by diverting nonviolent offenders to drug and other treatment programs and reducing prison terms for low level offenders. A threshold condition for diversion or release is low risk of violent offending. Implicitly these low risk nonviolent offenders are also promoted as criminals who can rehabilitate and reintegrate into the community. The majority of compassionate release programs either exclude prisoners who were convicted of violent crimes or require that the prisoner be incapacitated to the extent that he or she poses no threat to public safety. Yet even prisoners who meet these standards are rarely released. Arguing for cost cutting release of the fast growing legion of elderly prisoners is much less easily buttressed with soothing claims about the happy coincidence of lower costs and public safety. Even if, and it is big if, exaggerated fear of further predations were successfully addressed, the advocate of cost cutting reform cannot answer demands for retribution without venturing beyond the discourse of the "tough on crime" era. For thirty years the political class has shunned the previously commonly invoked criminal justice values of second chances -- the redemptive values of rehabilitation, reintegration, and mercy. The sickest and oldest prisoners are largely beyond second chances for productive citizenship. Whether released or incarcerated their care will be borne by the public purse. Elder care is not free. This Article focuses on the subclass of old prisoners who are beyond any prospect for productive citizenship because of age and ill health and are in need of elder care. The argument of this Article is that in order to capture the savings that release (and efficient carceral care) of elderly prisoners would bring, politicians and policy advocates will have to relearn to speak the language of humane criminal justice values, prominently mercy.


Background: Nasoalveolar molding is increasingly being used to treat unilateral cleft nose deformity before primary repair. The Grayson technique starts nasal molding when an alveolar gap is reduced to 5 mm, whereas the Figueroa technique performs nasal and alveolar molding at the same time. The authors investigated the comparative efficacy, efficiency, and incidence of complications of the two techniques. Methods: A blinded, retrospective study was conducted on 63 patients with complete unilateral cleft lip–cleft palate; 31 underwent the Grayson nasoalveolar molding and 32 underwent the Figueroa nasoalveolar molding. Pretreatment and posttreatment facial photographs and clinical charts were used to compare efficacy (nostril height ratio, nostril width ratio, columellar angle), efficiency (molding frequency), and incidence of complications (facial irritation, mucosal ulceration). Results: The Grayson and Figueroa techniques did not differ in treatment efficacy for nostril height ratio (0.86 ± 0.09 versus 0.85 ± 0.09; p > 0.05) and columellar angle (84.0 ± 4.5 degrees versus 85.3 ± 2.6 degrees; p > 0.05). Although the Grayson technique was more effective for reducing nostril width ratio (1.21 ± 0.29 versus 1.27 ± 0.19, p = 0.05), it was less efficient (i.e., required more adjustments) (10.9 ± 2.5 versus 8.8 ± 1.9; p < 0.001) and had a higher incidence of mucosal ulceration (23 percent versus 3 percent; p < 0.05). Conclusions: The two nasoalveolar molding techniques differed in efficacy, efficiency, and incidence of complications in patients with complete unilateral cleft lip–cleft and palate. Understanding these differences may help surgeons and orthodontists improve outcome expectations and consultations with patients' families. CLINICAL QUESTION/LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic, III.


The paper re-estimates the Gini inequality index for the United States using the Current Population Survey between 1979 and 2014 and two alternative correction methods for top income biases. Top incomes in household surveys are affected by a variety of biases related to survey design, income measurement and post-survey data adjustments. The paper corrects for selected biases using a stochastic approach based on reweighting and a semi-parametric approach based on replacing observations. Both methodologies show that income inequality in the United States has been consistently underestimated during the period considered. The level of underestimation is up to 6.83 percentage points depending on the year considered, choice of correction method and choice of modalities within methods. The degree of underestimation is positively and significantly associated with mean income, non-response rates, the initial level of inequality and the degree of departure of the top incomes distribution from a Pareto distribution.


Abstract. Surface observation of the atmospheric CO2 mixing ratio implies the combined influences of both natural fluctuations and anthropogenic activities on the carbon cycle. Atmospheric CO2 has been measured on Rishiri Island in the outflow region of Eurasia since May 2006. We report the first 7 year temporal atmospheric CO2 variations from diurnal to interannual scales. In the diurnal scale, an obvious cycle appeared as a minimum in the afternoon and maximum at midnight in the summer months. Seasonally, the maximum CO2 concentration appeared around the beginning of April, while the minimum appeared around the middle of August. A mean growing season length of ~126 days was estimated. In the period from 2007 to 2012, the peak-to-peak amplitude increased until 2009 and decreased thereafter, with a mean value of 19.7 ppm. In the long term, atmospheric CO2 is increasing by a mean growth rate of 2.1 ppm year−1. Investigations on the driving climatic factors on the interannual variation in amplitude indicated that temperature in East Asia (40–60° N, 90–150° E) affected the CO2 amplitude by affecting the seasonal maximum, with a time lag of 1–2 years. On the contrary, precipitation did not likely affect CO2 amplitudes. The amplitude also responded to a natural carbon source/sink variation in East Asia. We suggest that temperature in the first year would affect carbon sinks in the second year in the fetch regions, which further affect CO2 amplitude mainly through ecosystem respiration. Circulation changes also likely contributed to the decreasing amplitude since 2009, as indicated by the simultaneous decrease in the 222Rn concentration in spring and summer.


Purpose: Epigenetic changes can be detected in precancerous lesions, suggesting that may be involved in the early stages of carcinogenesis. The methylation of specifics genes has been correlated with the outcome of many different types of cancers. This study compared the levels of DNA methylation between normal and tumor tissues from patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). Methods: Candidate genes were screened using the Methyl-Profiler™ PCR Array System and the Dickkopf-related protein 2 (DKK2) genes were selected for study. DNA methylation of these genes was assessed by polymerase chain reaction–high-resolution melting (PCR–HRM) analysis. Results: Out of the 112 patients studied, 68 were controls with a mean age (SD) of 59.9 years (13.4) and 45 were patients with CRC with a mean age (SD) of 64.6 years (13.6). Among the patients with CRC, 25 were women, 28 were diagnosed with colon cancer and 18 were diagnosed with rectal cancer. The number of patients with Stage I, II, III, and IV of the disease, as per the TNM classification, were 2 (4.3%), 20 (43.4%), 18 (39.1%), and 2 (4.3%), respectively. Furthermore, the DKK2 gene had a higher methylation profile in the CRC tissues when compared to normal mucosa (p < 0.001), whereas the methylation profile analysis was not statistically significant when comparing the stages of the disease (p = 0.078). Conclusion: The presence of differentially methylated sequences of the DKK2 gene between the groups showed that the methylation changes of these genes could potentially be prognostic and predictive markers in CRC.


The survival of 119 colorectal cancer patients was analyzed in the light of the overexpression status of the c-myc proto-oncogene mRNA and the point mutation status of the p53 tumor suppressor gene in the primary adenocarcinoma. The presence of >3 fold overexpression of c-myc mRNA in the primary tumor was found to be associated with a better prognosis than patients who evinced no overexpression (P = 0.02, log rank analysis). Point mutation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene was found to be associated with a poorer patient prognosis (P = 0.007, log rank analysis). Endogenous levels of c-myc and point mutation of p53 both contributed independently toward a poorer patient prognosis in Cox regression modeling. The better prognosis seen in patients who overexpress c-myc was offset when c-myc overexpression was coupled with a point mutated p53 gene. These results suggest that in colorectal adenocarcinoma c-myc deregulation leads to increased apoptotic death, but that this response may be modulated by a more downstream event such as point mutation of the p53 gene.


"Early to bed and early to rise, Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise," proclaimed Benjamin Franklin.1 Early warning, early detection, early periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment, early dismissal, early filing—the litany goes on. Indeed, early has always connoted an astuteness, a positive gain of some sort. Yet recent newspaper and magazine articles have challenged that adage by calling attention to observations of untoward consequences resulting from early discharge of newborns and their mothers from the hospital (Sugg DK. Giving moms, newborns more time in the hospital. Baltimore Sun. April 4, 1995:1; Cost cuts shrink hospital stays for children. The New York Times. May 6, 1995; Nordheimer J. Broad coalition fights insurer limits on hospital maternity stays. The New York Times. June 6, 1995; Lord M. Check in, deliver, go home. us News and World Report. December 5, 1994:98-100). In anticipation of the need to address those observations, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources and Services Administration has taken the lead in assessing and tracking this issue nationally. This article describes the MCHB-supported investigations related to early discharge, including findings and recommending next steps.
 BACKGROUND
 The MCHB focus on length of hospital stay for newborns and their mothers began with an observation regarding rehospitalization of recently discharged newborns. Wallace et al of the San Diego County, CA, 1985 Cohort Infant Mortality Study Group,2 in work sponsored by the MCHB, reported that infants who died in the postneonatal period were significantly more likely to have been rehospitalized (excluding the hospitalization during which death occurred) than infants in the control group (surviving infants matched for plurality and month of birth).


DUODENOGASTROESOPHAGEAL REFLUX AFTER CHOLECYSTECTOMY (Abstract): The aim of the study was to establish by complementary methods the role of duodenogastroesophageal reflux diagnosed by spectrophotometry in the persistence of postcholecistectomy symptoms correlated with endoscopic lesions of esophageal mucosa. Material and methods: The clinical study was performed on a group of 238 patients divided into two groups: study (170 patients – 71.4%) and control group (68 patients – 28.6%). The study group was formed by patients with classic and laparoscopic cholecistectomy. The study group included 136 females (80%) and 34 males (20%), and the control group included 34 females (50%) and 34 males (50%). In the study group the average age was 54.40 ± 9.932 (SD) years, while in the control group the average age was 51.76 years ± 8.531 (SD). Both control and study group were endoscopically and spectrophotometrically (Bilitec) examined. Results: The patients in the study group were previously cholecistectomized either by classic (136 cases – 80%) or laparoscopic method (34 cases – 20%);endoscopicaly, 60% cases were type A esophagitis (102 patients), 10% type A and hiatal hernia (17 patients), 10% type B esophagitis (17 patients) and 10% cases Barett esophagus (17 patients). For the control group we had 4.41% cases of hiatal hernia while the rest of 95.59% patients presented normal esophagus. Bilitec showed an mean values of number of refluxes for the study group of 8.000 ± 8.58098 (SD), much higher than the value identified for the control group – 1.7500 ± 0.83532 (SD). The number of long refluxes are much closer between the two groups – study group 2.000 ± 1.73717 (SD), control group 1.4853 ± 0.50350 (SD). Absorbency time > 0.14" is 292.4000 ± 229.941 (SD) for the study group while for the control group the average value is much more low (124.7500 ± 60.51061 (SD)). The values for the esophageal clearance are lower in the study group than in the control group: 77.6900 ± 86.01549 (SD), respectively 147.5250 ± 111.92144 (SD). Conclusions: Cholecistectomy can be included in the category of risk factors for alkaline duodenoesophageal reflux. The endoscopy identified esophagitis lesions, hiatal hernia and Barett esophagus and the Bilitec test allowed the identification of increased alkaline reflux in cholecistectomized patients in comparison with the control group.


A new electrochemical synthesis route was developed for the fabrication of Fe-containing layered double hydroxide (MFe-LDHs, M 1⁄4 Ni, Co and Li) hierarchical nanoarrays, which exhibit highly-efficient electrocatalytic performances for the oxidation reactions of several small molecules (water, hydrazine, methanol and ethanol). Ultrathin MFe-LDH nanoplatelets (200–300 nm in lateral length; 8–12 nm in thickness) perpendicular to the substrate surface are directly prepared within hundreds of seconds (<300 s) under cathodic potential. The as-obtained NiFe-LDH nanoplatelet arrays display promising behavior in the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), giving rise to a rather low overpotential (0.224 V) at 10.0 mA cm 2 with largely enhanced stability, much superior to previously reported electro-oxidation catalysts as well as the state-of-the-art Ir/C catalyst. Furthermore, the MFe-LDH nanoplatelet arrays can also efficiently catalyze several other fuel molecules' oxidation (e.g., hydrazine, methanol and ethanol), delivering a satisfactory electrocatalytic activity and a high operation stability. In particular, this preparation method of Fe-containing LDHs is amenable to fast, effective and large-scale production, and shows promising applications in water splitting, fuel cells and other clean energy devices.


Characters in traditional artwork such as children's books or cartoon animations are typically drawn once, in fixed poses, with little opportunity to change the characters' appearance or re-use them in a different animation. To enable these applications one can fit a consistent parametric deformable model--- a puppet ---to different images of a character, thus establishing consistent segmentation, dense semantic correspondence, and deformation parameters across poses. In this work, we argue that a layered deformable puppet is a natural representation for hand-drawn characters, providing an effective way to deal with the articulation, expressive deformation, and occlusion that are common to this style of artwork. Our main contribution is an automatic pipeline for fitting these models to unlabeled images depicting the same character in various poses. We demonstrate that the output of our pipeline can be used directly for editing and re-targeting animations.


This article presents an exploration of a non-Western nation's responses to globalisation through an in-depth analysis of elite artistic gymnastics in China over a lengthy time span. The concept of globalisation and patterns of 'reach' and 'response' act as the heuristic devices underpinning the analysis. Data were collected from a range of documents and from six semi-structured interviews. The trajectory of Chinese elite artistic gymnastics' responses to globalisation can be characterised as a passive response in the 1950s, a participative response in the first half of the 1960s, a conflictual response from 1966 to the early 1970s, a participative response from the early 1970s to the 2012 Olympic Games, and a passive response, once again, during the Rio Olympiad (post-London 2012). In this way, a nation's responses to globalisation are seen as dynamic rather than rigid or static. China's case also demonstrates that a nation can have a degree of autonomy when responding to globalisation, although in extreme cases, a nation-state can choose to resist this globalising context, largely depending on a government's attitude towards globalisation and the value the government attaches to it.


Concentrated boarding describes the phenomenon when rail passengers congregate in certain areas of the platform, such as at main entrances and staircases. This influences the distribution of passengers throughout the carriages, which can negatively affect passenger comfort, safety at the platform train interface, efficiency of the rail network, and the reputation of rail travel as a whole. This project aimed to determine whether concentrated boarding occur in rail stations in the UK in order to understand its relevance for future rolling stock and infrastructure design and its associated manufacturing research. Video recording technology was used to observe the movements of passengers in Oxford Station, and data was collected for nine trains. By reviewing the recordings, the number of passengers boarding through each door of the trains was determined, and the boarding distributions along the length of the platform were plotted. Several reasons for noted trends were offered, and potential solutions proposed. The use of real time information could be invaluable to minimise concentrated boarding, as it would allow passengers to make informed decisions as to where they could board trains to have a better journey experience. These findings indicate the relevance of a human-centred design process, particularly the user research stages in the process of defining priorities for manufacturing and engineering.


Background Cities are expanding and accommodating an increasing proportion of the world's population. It is important to identify features of urban form that promote the health of city dwellers. Access to green space has been associated with health benefits at both individual and neighbourhood level. We investigated whether a relationship between green space coverage and selected mortality rates exists at the city level in the USA. Methods An ecological cross-sectional study. A detailed land use data set was used to quantify green space for the largest US cities (n=49, combined population of 43 million). Linear regression models were used to examine the association between city-level 'greenness' and city-level standardised rates of mortality from heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer, motor vehicle fatalities and all causes, after adjustment for confounders. Results There was no association between greenness and mortality from heart disease, diabetes, lung cancer or automobile accidents. Mortality from all causes was significantly higher in greener cities. Conclusions While considerable evidence suggests that access to green space yields health benefits, we found no such evidence at the scale of the American city. In the USA, greener cities tend also to be more sprawling and have higher levels of car dependency. Any benefits that the green space might offer seem easily eclipsed by these other conditions and the lifestyles that accompany them. The result merits further investigation as it has important implications for how we increase green space access in our cities.


Usher syndrome is an autosomal recessive disorder characterised by retinitis pigmentosa and congenital sensorineural hearing loss. A gene for Usher syndrome type II (USH2) has been localised to chromosome 1q32-q41. DNA from a family with four of seven sibs affected with clinical characteristics of Usher syndrome type II was genotyped using markers spanning the 1q32-1q41 region. These included D1S70 and D1S81, which are believed to flank USH2. Genotypic results and subsequent linkage analysis indicated non-linkage of this family to these markers. The A test analysis for heterogeneity with this family and 32 other Usher type II families was statistically significant at p < 0.05. Further clinical evaluation of this family was done in light of the linkage results to determine if any phenotypic characteristics would allow for clinical identification of the unlinked type. No clear phenotypic differences were observed; however, this unlinked family may represent a previously unreported subtype of Usher type II characterised by a milder form of retinitis pigmentosa and mild vestibular abnormalities. Heterogeneity of Usher syndrome type II complicates efforts to isolate and clone Usher syndrome genes using linkage analysis and limits the use of DNA markers in early detection of Usher type II.


Large repositories of data are used daily as knowledge bases (KBs) feeding computer systems that support decision making processes, such as in medical or financial applications. Unfortunately, the larger a KB is, the harder it is to ensure its consistency and completeness. The problem of handling KBs of this kind has been studied in the AI and databases communities, but most approaches focus on computing answers locally to the KB, assuming there is some single, epistemically correct solution. It is important to recognize that for some applications, as part of the decision making process, users consider far more knowledge than that which is contained in the knowledge base, and that sometimes inconsistent data may help in directing reasoning; for instance, inconsistency in taxpayer records can serve as evidence of a possible fraud. Thus, the handling of this type of data needs to be context-sensitive, creating a synergy with the user in order to build useful, flexible data management systems.
Inconsistent and incomplete information is ubiquitous and presents a substantial problem when trying to reason about the data: how can we derive an adequate model of the world, from the point of view of a given user, from a KB that may be inconsistent or incomplete? In this thesis we argue that in many cases users need to bring their application-specific knowledge to bear in order to inform the data management process. Therefore, we provide different approaches to handle, in a personalized fashion, some of the most common issues that arise in knowledge management. Specifically, we focus on (1) inconsistency management in relational databases, general knowledge bases, and a special kind of knowledge base designed for news reports; (2) management of incomplete information in the form of different types of null values; and (3) answering queries in the presence of uncertain schema matchings. We allow users to define policies to manage both inconsistent and incomplete information in their application in a way that takes both the user's knowledge of his problem, and his attitude to error/risk, into account. Using the frameworks and tools proposed here, users can specify when and how they want to manage/solve the issues that arise due to inconsistency and incompleteness in their data, in the way that best suits their needs.


Six systemic fungicides viz.,  Kitazin 48 EC (iprobenfos), Tilt 25 EC (propiconazole), Folicur 25 EC (tebuconazole), Score 25 EC (difenoconazole), Amistar Top 325 SC (azoxystrobin 18.2% + difenoconazole 11.4%) and Nativo 75 WG  (trifloxystrobin 25% + tebuconazole 50%), and two non-systemic fungicides viz., Indofil M-45 75 WP (mancozeb) and Kocide 77 WP (copper hydroxide), were evaluated under in vitro and field conditions for their efficacy to manage purple blotch complex of onion caused by Alternaria porri and Stemphylium vesicarium. Field efficacy of  the fungicides at different concentrations were determined in controlling the purple blotch complex of onion under artificial epiphytotic conditions on bulb and seed crop (cultivar PRO-6) during the Rabi season 2014-2015 and 2015-2016, respectively. The triazole fungicides, tebuconazole and difenoconazole proved superior in inhibiting growth of A. porri and S. vesicarium under in vitro conditions, respectively. Further, foliar sprays (3 for bulb crop and 4 for seed crop) of tebuconazole 25 EC (Folicur) @ 0.1 per cent at fortnightly interval most effectively managed purple blotch complex of onion under field conditions with highest Benefit: Cost ratio (8.75:1 and 88.7:1) in bulb and seed crop, respectively. Seed-to-seed method of onion seed production recorded significantly lower disease severity and higher seed yield than that of bulb-to-seed method under natural epiphytotic conditions. The present findings can be instrumental in devising strategy for the integrated management of A. porri, S. vesicarium singly as well as in complex, serious limiting biotic factors in onion production. Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 5(4): 554-565


We provide a review of recent advances in 3D surface imaging technologies. We focus particularly on noncontact 3D surface measurement techniques based on structured illumination. The high-speed and high-resolution pattern projection capability offered by the digital light projection technology, together with the recent advances in imaging sensor technologies, may enable new generation systems for 3D surface measurement applications that will provide much better functionality and performance than existing ones in terms of speed, accuracy, resolution, modularization, and ease of use. Performance indexes of 3D imaging system are discussed, and various 3D surface imaging schemes are categorized, illustrated, and compared. Calibration techniques are also discussed, since they play critical roles in achieving the required precision. Numerous applications of 3D surface imaging technologies are discussed with several examples.


Energy drain in mobile devices is well recognized to be a serious problem. Most mobile operating systems provide facilities to mitigate energy drain, but they are usually heavy handed and often require shutting down an offending application or uninstalling it. In this paper, we describe an alternative that controls the behavior of an energy hungry application rather than kill it. Our system offers a finer-grained approach to energy drain and is cognizant of specific application energy characteristics as well as interactions amongst multiple applications that can affect energy drain in unexpected ways. Using our system, we believe users can avoid the annoyance of sudden and unexpected battery loss, particularly when operating in standby mode. Our system, called E-Loupe, consists of components running on each device as well as in a centralized data center. E-Loupe gathers per-device data, analyzes this data, and implements energy sandboxing in the device kernel to control how often an energy hungry application is run and what resources it is allowed to consume. Our experimental results on data from over 73,000 users shows that we can identify the cause of more than 85% of the energy spikes, and upper bound the energy drain in nearly all of these cases.


There are huge and Historic collections in museums archives and libraries are basically made of organic materials that are hygroscopic and sensitive to bio-deterioration processes. Often, collections are located in historical buildings that maintain micro environments appropriated for the development of microorganisms on their objects including proteins objects and leather artifacts. Collagen in tanned leather is more resistant to mold growth than in untanned leather. Unfortunately, historical manuscripts covers are vegetable tanned leathers, but chrome leathers being used primarily in leather artifacts like shoes, luggage and other such items. Both kinds of them exposed to microorganism deterioration resulted in different aspects of deterioration. This study aims to compare between the chromium and vegetable tanned leathers in resistant against microbiological deterioration and explain how chrome-tanned leathers are more resistant than vegetable-tanned leathers according to chrome toxicity, and test this resistant by measuring the mechanical properties (tensile strength – elongation) of the new tanned samples treated with the microbiological accelerated ageing cycle by identified microorganisms at different conditions. Also explain the biological degradation of chrome and how the microorganism degradation occurred through a survey of the previous studies of most common microorganisms that infected the historical vegetable/chrome tanned leathers in museums.


A lively text by the director and associate director of the Museum provides a biography of the Museum's benefactor, a history of the buildings that have housed his collections, and an overview of the collections themselves - first formed by Getty during his life and greatly expanded in the years following his generous and much-publicized bequest. Rarely seen photographs reveal the life that Getty led as he traveled the world building his oil empire and, during the later part of his life, in his great Tudor mansion in England. Documents and photographs from the archives of the Museum take readers through the painstaking construction first of the Villa in Malibu and then of the new Getty Center in Los Angeles. Specially commissioned photographs by noted architectural photographer Tom Bonner offer the first glimpses of the splendid galleries and dramatic exteriors of the new Museum. Finally, reproductions of more than 100 masterpieces show the range and depth of the Getty Museum collections.


This is one of the first studies to empirically examine the relationship between wireless communications technology and work interference with family, and results shed light on the motivating factors that influence individuals to continuously engage with mobile technologies, sometimes to their personal detriment. We draw from Conservation of Resources (COR) theory to examine the relationship between using mobile communications technologies during non-work time (e.g., evenings, weekends, vacation) and psychological variables related to work-family conflict and well being, and whether this relationship is mediated by perceptions of job control and detachment from work. We collected data from 139 full-time working adults from a large media organization and analyzed it by conducting two multiple mediation regression models using bootstrapping procedures (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Results revealed that higher levels of mobile technology use during evenings, weekends and vacations were directly related to higher levels of work-family conflict, operationalized as work interference with family. Technology use was also related to both resource enhancing and resource depleting variables. Specifically, technology use was positively related to job control and negatively related to detachment from work. Job control and detachment from work, in turn, were negatively related to work interference with family. Findings suggested that the mediating effect of detachment on the relationship between technology use and work interference with family was greater than the mediating effect of job control, thus providing evidence to support the COR theory principle that resource loss is more salient than resource gain.


This dissertation considers Thai cinema as a national text. It portrays and analyses Thai film from the introduction of cinema to Thailand during the reign of King Chulalongkorn (1868-1910) up until the present day (2004).

At its core, this thesis adopts the ideas of Higson, O'Regan and Dissanayake in considering the cultural negotiation of cinema and the construction of nation. In this study of Thai National Cinema two principal methods are employed - economic and text-based. In terms of political economy Thai National Cinema is explored through the historical development of the local film industry, the impact of imported cinema, taxation, censorship and government policy, and the interplay between vertically and horizontally integrated media businesses. Special attention is paid to the evolving and dynamic role of the ruling class in the local film industry. The dissertation's text-based analyses concern the social and ideological contexts of these national productions in order to consider extant characteristics of Thai nationhood and how these are either reflected or problematised in Thai Cinema.

Of particular relevance is this dissertation's emphasis on three resilient and potent signifiers of Thai identity- nation, religion,and monarchy - and their interrelationship and influence in the development of Thai National Cinema. These three 'pillars' of Thai society form the basis for organising an understanding of the development of Thai cinematic tradition, now over a century old. This thesis argues that any discussion of the historical, or current, development of Thai National Cinema must accommodate the pervasive role that these three principal forms of national identity play in formulating Thai society, culture, and politics. The recent challenges of globalisation and postmodernism, as well as the rise of an educated middle-class, provide opportunity for reconceptualizing the relevance of these three pillars. In this way Thai National Cinema can be considered a useful barometer in both reflecting and promoting the construction of Thai identity and thought.


Aim—The aim of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of a prosociality scale within the palliative nursing context, and then examine the impact of prosocial behaviour in relation to job and educational satisfaction among palliative nurses. Methods—An online cross-sectional survey was conducted in 25 Italian palliative care centres, with a total of 107 nurses completing the prosociality scale by Caprara et al (2005). Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses were examined to evaluate a multi-dimensional model of prosociality. Results—A three-factor solution with a second order factor fitted the data well. The three dimensions extracted were labelled as helping, empathy, and sharing. Participants reported high levels of prosociality. In addition, prosociality was positively associated with job and educational satisfaction. Conclusions— The prosociality scale was valid and reliable when tested with palliative nurses. Although prosociality may be embedded in nurses' personalities, this quality should be actively promoted in order to expand and improve the culture and the ethics of nursing.


The purpose of this study was to investigate whether nurses provide different amounts of narcotic analgesics to male and female patients, and different amounts to white and ethnic minority patients. A retrospective survey was conducted with the medical records of 101 male and 79 female uncomplicated adult appendectomy patients, 40 of whom were ethnic minority members. Narcotic analgesic doses for the entire postoperative period were converted to equianalgesic doses comparable to intramuscular morphine. Male patients received significantly larger initial doses than female patients. There was no gender difference in the total dose received postoperatively. White patients received significantly more total postoperative narcotic analgesics than ethnic minority patients. The gender difference provides modest external validation for prior experimental results. The ethnic difference suggests that irrelevant cues may be used in nurses' medication decisions.


The barotropic responses of the west Florida continental shelf to idealized upwelling favorable alongshore and offshore wind stresses are studied using the three-dimensional, time-dependent, primitive equation Princeton Ocean Model (POM). When forced with uniform winds, the shelf circulation evolves quickly to a quasi steady state. A southeastward alongshore wind lowers sea level along the coast and drives a southeastward coastal jet with a relatively weak northwestward return flow farther offshore. A southwestward offshore wind lowers sea level along the west Florida coast and raises sea level along the Panhandle coast. Two independent circulation gyres are set up in association with these regionally different sea level distributions: an anticyclonic gyre off the west Florida coast consisting of a southeastward coastal jet and a broad return flow over the middle shelf and a cyclonic gyre off the Panhandle coast consisting of a strong northwestward coastal jet and an adjacent narrow southeastward undercurrent. These gyres are separated by the Big Bend region. In both cases (alongshore and offshore wind forcing) the circulations are fully three-dimensional, with opposing surface and bottom boundary layer flows accounting for the across-shelf transports. The shapes of the coastline and the isobaths are important determinants of the shelf-wide responses. Several locally maximum upwelling regions are identified for geometrical reasons. These include the Panhandle coast south of Apalachicola Bay, the west Florida coast south of Tampa Bay, along the Florida Keys, and at the shelf break where topographic Rossby waves are evident.


Specifications for complex engineering systems are typically decomposed into specifications for individual subsystems in a manner that ensures they are implementable and simpler to develop further. We describe a method to algorithmically construct component specifications that implement a given specification when assembled. By eliminating variables that are irrelevant to realizability of each component, we simplify the specifications and reduce the amount of information necessary for operation. We parametrize the information flow between components by introducing parameters that select whether each variable is visible to a component. The decomposition algorithm identifies which variables can be hidden while preserving realizability and ensuring correct composition, and these are eliminated from component specifications by quantification and conversion of binary decision diagrams to formulas. The resulting specifications describe component viewpoints with full information with respect to the remaining variables, which is essential for tractable algorithmic synthesis of implementations. The specifications are written in TLA+, with liveness properties restricted to an implication of conjoined recurrence properties, known as GR(1). We define an operator for forming open systems from closed systems, based on a variant of the "while-plus" operator. This operator simplifies the writing of specifications that are realizable without being vacuous. To convert the generated specifications from binary decision diagrams to readable formulas over integer variables, we symbolically solve a minimal covering problem. We show with examples how the method can be applied to obtain contracts that formalize the hierarchical structure of system design.


To date, there is no research examining how adults with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) or Motor Neurone Disease (MND) and severe communication disability use Twitter, nor the use of Twitter in relation to ALS/MND beyond its use for fundraising and raising awareness. In this paper we (a) outline a rationale for the use of Twitter as a method of communication and information exchange for adults with ALS/MND, (b) detail multiple qualitative and quantitative methods used to analyse Twitter networks and tweet content in the our studies, and (c) present the results of two studies designed to provide insights on the use of Twitter by an adult with ALS/MND and by #ALS and #MND hashtag communities in Twitter. We will also discuss findings across the studies, implications for health service providers in Twitter, and directions for future Twitter research in relation to ALS/MND.


Nationally, a substantial proportion of prison admissions are due to revocations of probation or post-prison release, rather than new convictions and sentences. Sentence revocations have helped fuel U.S. prison growth despite a significant decline in crime across the nation. The process for deciding who is revoked and who is not is a discretionary one that in most jurisdictions is wholly unguided by law or policy. As a result, decisions are often made haphazardly, and without regard to risk the offender poses to the community. Although many states now realize that the legal and policy problems surrounding sentence revocations are urgent and require new thinking and new solutions, there are few successful innovations upon which to build. Three changes could dramatically reduce prison admissions and incarceration rates: substituting short jail terms and day fines for probationary supervision; avoiding release conditions that aren't essential to public safety; and reducing the length of time offenders are subject to conditional release (and thus, to revocation). State sentencing commissions are well-positioned to promote these reforms, and to offer judges and correctional decision makers more guidance on the principles that should govern their revocation decisions. Doing so would conserve community supervision resources for the rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders, lessen the need for costly and often counter-productive revocation sanctions, and improve the quality of decision making at the time of sentencing and throughout the execution of the sentence.


In Ownership Paradigms in American Civil Law Jurisdictions Agustin Parise assists in identifying the transformations experienced in the legislation dealing with ownership in the Americas. He addresses the three ownership paradigms that he claims have developed in the New World.


To identify disease-causative variants, we intersected the published results of a metaanalysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with the set of enhancer regions for 71 primary cell types that was provided by the FANTOM consortium. We first retrieved all single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are associated (P < 5 × 108) with RA in the GWAS meta-analysis and that are located in any of these enhancer regions. After excluding the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region, we identified 50 such RA-associated SNPs that are located in enhancer regions. Enhancer sets from different cell types were then compared with each other for their number of RA-associated SNPs by permutation analysis. This analysis showed that RA-associated SNPs are preferentially located in enhancers from several immunological cell types. In particular, we see a strong relative enrichment in enhancer regions that are active in T cells (P < 0.001) and NK cells (P < 0.001). Several loci display multiple RA-associated SNPs in tight linkage disequilibrium that are located within the same or neighboring enhancers. These haplotypes may have a greater likelihood to influence enhancer activity than any SNP on its own. Taken together, these results support the hypothesis that RA-causative variants often act through altering the activity of immune cell enhancers. The enrichment in T-cell and NK-cell enhancer regions indicates that expression changes in these cell types are particularly relevant for the pathogenesis of RA. The specific SNPs that account for this enrichment can be used as a basis for focused genotype-phenotype studies of these cell types.


We present a conceptual model of the economic impacts of hurricanes on timber producers and consumers, offer a framework indicating how welfare impacts can be estimated using econometric estimates of timber price dynamics, and illustrate the advantages of using a welfare theoretic model, which includes (1) welfare estimates that are consistent with neo-classical economic theory, and (2) wealth transfers among various market participants that can be evaluated. Timber producers in the Southern United States are faced with the regular risk of damages from intense hurricanes. Individual events can kill several million cubic feet of standing timber, with attendant losses for forest owners. One result of using a welfare theoretic model that is not apparent using simpler models is that timber producers with undamaged timber suffer economic losses in the short term because of a price depression, and they may be compensated in the long term by an enhancement of market prices owing to the loss of standing inventory. Catastrophic storms induce losses to timber producers holding damaged timber owing to quality degrade, price depression, and the inability to salvage all of the damaged timber. To minimize decayrelated losses, owners of damaged timber should salvage as quickly as possible and favor salvage of higher value trees. Owners of undamaged timber should delay harvesting until salvage wood is exhausted from the market. Evidence suggests that timberland investors under hurricane threat could benefit by diversifying their holdings geographically, favoring areas far enough from coastal counties to minimize catastrophic losses from such storms but close enough to benefit from market-level price enhancements resulting from regional inventory losses.


Just as Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi completed the most successful cinematic trilogy of its generation, perhaps of all time, this splendid thirtieth-anniversary tribute concludes New York Times bestselling author J. W. Rinzler's trio of breathtaking books celebrating George Lucas's classic saga. Once again, the author's unprecedented access to the Lucasfilm Archives has yielded a mother lode of fascinating and often unexpected revelations from behind the scenes of a blockbuster in the making. Brimming with previously unpublished photos, concept artwork, script excerpts, storyboards, on-set interviews and present-day commentary, The Making of Return of the Jedi chronicles 'how George Lucas and his crew of extroverted artists, misfits and expert craftspeople roused themselves to great heights for a third time' to create the next unforgettable chapter in one of the most beloved stories in movie history. Get up close to the action and feel like a studio insider as: * George Lucas, Oscar-nominated screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and director Richard Marquand huddle in a script conference to debate the destinies of iconic Star Wars characters * The artists and technicians at the ground-breaking Industrial Light & Magic facility surpass their own revolutionary innovations with boundary-pushing new visual effects * A crack team of sculptors, puppeteers, actors and 'monstermakers' brings Jabba the Hutt and his unsavoury cohorts to startling, slobbering life * Actors and crew race to the finish line at Elstree Studios, in a fiery desert and beneath the canopy of a dense redwood forest to provide answers to the questions that audiences had waited three years to find out: Is Darth Vader really Luke's father? Who is the mysterious 'other'? And who, or what, is the Emperor? Star Wars luminaries from both sides of the camera, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, David Prowse, Alec Guinness, director Richard Marquand, producer Howard Kazanjian, Ralph McQuarrie, Joe Johnston, Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett and mastermind George Lucas, all weigh in with candid insights on everything from technical crises and character design, to the Ewoks and the ultimate challenge of bringing this phenomenal space fantasy to a dramatic close. A gloriously illustrated and painstakingly researched tribute to a truly spectacular movie, The Making of Return of the Jedi invites you to return to a galaxy ...far, far away.


Since the 1 990s quality management has been translocated from industry into higher education. However, there is little evidence that improvement in the core functions of universities has resulted. This study adopts a critical systems approach that is grounded in a critique of prevail ing models of qual ity management to explore qual ity in a university. It examines the potential of Critical Systems Thinking enacted through Total Systems Intervention (TSI) to promote improvement. A case is made for local intervention towards improvement. The thesis is structured around the three modes of TSI, namely Critical Review, Problem Solving and Critical Reflection . A Critical Review of Quality Management suggests that the opposition of academics to quality initiatives in general, and to Quality Management in particular, is rooted in its language and underlying image of organization. This proposition is explored through an analysis of key Quality Management definitions and concepts in relation to the university. The importance of language, metaphors and images of organization are explored. The fitness for purpose of industrial models of qual ity for universities is challenged. TSI is employed in its Problem Solving mode to describe the quality problem for an academic unit within a university in New Zealand initially from the perspective of its staff and students. For them, the quality problem mainly related to better promoting learning. Analysis and reflection on the problem and context drawing on systems methodologies shaped interventions for improvement. Critical Reflection on a cycle of participative creativity, choice and implementation identified cultural, structural and environmental factors that present threats not only to quality improvement but also to the viability of the unit. The main findings and conclusions question the appropriateness of current models of QM in the university . The thesis demonstrates key systemic problems in higher education; provides a rationale for systemic interventions; identifies pressures that make resistance to systems thinking almost inevitable; and i l lustrates that TSI is more appropriately used by external researchers than insider researchers. Nevertheless, critical systems approaches, in particular boundary critique, help to structure the problem of improving quality in locally meaningful ways. The challenges of using systems ideas and systems methodologies in the university context, however, are substantial.


This paper argues that a change in the formal structure of proportionality analysis can increase the chance of proportionality's successful transplant into American constitutional law. The change takes the form of an additional and new last step to the existing multi-prong inquiry, which would require judges to assess the outcome of the legal analysis at the previous stages against the disruption that outcome would cause to settled constitutional doctrine. The greater the departure from constitutional precedent, the stronger must be the reasons that justify it. By analogy to Robert Alexy's "weight" analysis at the balancing stage, I label this new step the "disruption" analysis. Disruption analysis formalizes the requirement that "special justification" – over and above the belief that 'the precedent was wrongly decided' be given whenever courts contemplate overruling precedent as a result of applying proportionality analysis.
Incorporating disruption analysis into the structure of proportionality has a number of advantages, other than enhancing proportionality's transplantability appeal into American constitutional law. First, it shows that the structure of the proportionality test is not cast in stone; experimentation with the proportionality test are possible. Second, disruption analysis brings structure to the largely haphazard protection of constitutional precedent through the stare decisis doctrine. Third, as one step of proportionality's multi-prong inquiry, disruption analysis is integral, rather than exogenous, to constitutional method and as such can mitigate the tension between "correctness" and "stability" that underpins the jurisprudential foundations of stare decisis. I illustrate my proposal with examples from the First Amendment.


Building works include construction and demolition activities, which are common in cities across the world. Building-related activities contribute a considerable amount of the construction and demolition waste material worldwide. These activities have the potential to produce particulate matter (PM), including PM10 (≤10 μm), PM2.5 (≤2.5 μm) and PM1 (≤1 μm), and airborne ultrafine particles (≤0.1 μm). Recent studies have indicated that the rate of building works undertaken each year is growing exponentially, to meet new urban design guidelines and respond to demand from the adoption of new building technologies, which highlights the importance of measuring the amounts of particle emissions from these sources. The principles of sustainable urban development are well established, but the extent of pollution due to construction and demolition activities is still unknown. Through laboratory and field studies, this thesis aims to comprehensively investigate the release of coarse (referred to as PM2.5–10 fraction), fine (PM2.5) and ultrafine particles from various building works, assess their physicochemical properties, and estimate the associated occupational exposure risk from them to on-site workers and individuals in the close vicinity.
Experiments for this thesis were carried out to measure PM and airborne ultrafine particles in the size range of (0.005–10 µm) using a fast response differential mobility spectrometer (DMS50), a tapered element oscillating micro balance (TEOM 1400), a GRIMM particle spectrometer (1.107 E) and OSIRIS (2315). Measurements were made in various locations: a controlled laboratory environment (i.e. concrete mixing, drilling, cutting), indoor field sites (i.e. building refurbishment) and at outdoor field sites (i.e. construction and demolition). Moreover, dust samples were collected simultaneously for physiochemical analyses (e.g. SEM, EDS, XPS and IBA). Several important findings were then extrapolated during the analysis. These findings indicated that ultrafine particles dominated (74-97%) the total particle number concentrations (PNCs) while the coarse particles (PM2.5-10) contributed to the majority of the total particle mass concentrations (PMCs), during the laboratory, indoor and outdoor field experiments. The highest proportion of PNCs and PMCs was found during the concrete cutting, drilling and wall chasing activities. In addition, the highest proportion of PMCs was observed in the excavator cabin during a building demolition at an outdoor field measurement site. Moreover, combining the results of SEM, EDS, XPS and IBA analysis suggested the dominance of elements such as Si, Al and S in the collected samples. The data were also used to assess the horizontal decay of the PMC through a modified box model to determine the emission factors and the occupational exposure to on-site workers and nearby individuals. The results confirmed that building-related works produce significant levels of coarse, fine and ultrafine particles, and that there is a need to limit particle emissions and reduce the occupational exposure of individuals by enforcing effective engineering controls. These findings could also be useful for the building industry to develop mitigation strategies to limit exposure to particulate matter during building works, particularly for ultrafine particles, which are currently non-existent.


Education plays multifarious instrumental roles in the realisation of certain ends both at individual and societal level. A large number of research works carried out in and outside India have identified and established a whole range of externalities produced by education such as raising human capital beyond individual level. Despite debates on economic returns to education, most scholars agreed about the positive impact of education upon economic return. The present study has mainly focused on a comparative analysis in attainment of education among three different social groups that is, scheduled castes (SC), scheduled tribes (ST) and other non-scheduled castes at school level. This is a micro-level empirical study focusing on one of the least developed Community Development Block (CDB) of Bankura district in West Bengal. The analysis of the study reveals that disadvantaged social groups—SCs and STs are the marginalised depressed classes experiencing high level of educational deprivation compared to that of other communities. One has to note that affiliation to a particular caste can no longer be tagged as a sole determinant of relative backwardness. So what is called for is a careful stratification of the community on the basis of socio-economic attributes so as to diagnose the problem of the community at hand properly. The study uses logistic regression as an analytical tool to probe net effects of the predictor variables including castes on enrolment and discontinuation rates for the study area as a whole as well as for boys and girls separately. It is important to note that when other variables are controlled, the net effect of caste factor becomes statistically inconsequential either on enrolment or on discontinuation or dropouts. Rather, it is the combination of several socio-economic factors that are taken together which pulls down the enrolment of ST and SC children vis-a-vis those belonging to others non-scheduled castes.


Last month, the Pretoria branch of the Pharmaceutical Society arranged a CPD evening for pharmacist's assistants. I was asked to tell them about the status of the new pharmacy technician qualification. When I prepared for it, I realised that it is an important topic, and I'm absolutely sure that it's something that interests you as well.


Roxtec is well-known as a company which designs and supplies cable and pipe sealing systems. The purpose of this thesis was to develop new solutions to verify the installed systems. We use some chemistry knowledge and modern technology, such as pressure sensors, etc. to meet the needs mentioned above. We have added some new function into the original stay plate, too. And it enables the stay plate to tell the tightness of the sealing system by measuring the lateral displacement of the modules. We also assumed that we can compress the system by a torque wrench with certain Nm instead of checking the sealed system by wedge clip.


Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko (2001), a tragic and schizophrenic science fiction coming-of-age tale is a perplexing and paradoxical film with multiple interpretations and many aporias of meaning. In this examination, I first compare the two standard phenomenological ways to regard the film: either Donnie exists in a science fiction world or he is schizophrenic. Second, I pose a new and divergent reading of the filmic world: Donnie is a character in a story of artistic mourning. Third, I compare the feature film and the director's cut in terms of world and world view and conclude that the latter reduces the tragic existential hero to a scifi messiah.


Gartner, a large research and advisory company, anticipates that by 2024 80% of security operation centers (SOCs) will use machine learning (ML) based solutions to enhance their operations.11https://www.ciodive.com/news/how-data-science-tools-can-lighten-the-load-for-cybersecurity-teams/572209/ In light of such widespread adoption, it is vital for the research community to identify and address usability concerns. This work presents the results of the first in situ usability assessment of ML-based tools. With the support of the US Navy, we leveraged the national cyber range-a large, air-gapped cyber testbed equipped with state-of-the-art network and user emulation capabilities-to study six US Naval SOC analysts' usage of two tools. Our analysis identified several serious usability issues, including multiple violations of established usability heuristics for user interface design. We also discovered that analysts lacked a clear mental model of how these tools generate scores, resulting in mistrust $a$ and/or misuse of the tools themselves. Surprisingly, we found no correlation between analysts' level of education or years of experience and their performance with either tool, suggesting that other factors such as prior background knowledge or personality play a significant role in ML-based tool usage. Our findings demonstrate that ML-based security tool vendors must put a renewed focus on working with analysts, both experienced and inexperienced, to ensure that their systems are usable and useful in real-world security operations settings.


The Former Guterl Specialty Steel Corporation Site (Guterl Site) is located 32 kilometers (20 miles) northeast of Buffalo, New York, in Lockport, Niagara County, New York. Between 1948 and 1952, up to 15,875 metric tons (35 million pounds) of natural uranium metal (U) were processed at the Guterl Site. The resulting milling dust, shavings, thermal scale, and associated on-site land disposal contaminated both the facility and soils. These combined manufacturing and disposal processes promoted the development of a large-scale uranium plume in the groundwater underlying the site. Site soils are anthropogenic fill and re-worked, glacially-derived sediments that vary between 0.6 meters (m) and 3 meters (2.0 to 10.0 feet [ft]) in thickness. These soils blanket a highly permeable weathered and fractured zone in the upper Lockport Dolostone bedrock. Aerial recharge through the thin soils flushes soluble constituents to groundwater, as exemplified by variations in specific conductivity and groundwater levels in the bedrock during precipitation events. Seasonally higher groundwater levels also promote contact with uranium contamination in deeper soil, thus complicating the transport characteristics of the site (e.g., oxidizing metallic uranium in the soil that increases leach rates). The Seasonal Soil (SESOIL) compartment model was used to simulate a series of site soil conditions and predict the leaching of uranium to groundwater. The SESOIL input included physical soil characteristics, uranium profiles common in five soil areas, climate data, and an assumed oxidation-state (or chemical valence) for metallic uranium in the soil. The iterative modeling process evaluated site-specific variables to achieve a final deterministic set of input that was applied to the five soil areas. The leaching simulations estimated time-dependent influx rates for uranium, which were input to a numerical groundwater flow (MODFLOW) and transport (MT3DMS) model. The combined modeling effort produced spatially and temporally variable transport conditions that were simulated over a 1,000-year period. The leaching models predicted a preliminary remediation goal (PRG) for uranium of 11 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) that is protective of groundwater. However, this low uranium PRG has field implementation concerns, so a modified direct-exposure PRG of 70 mg/kg was developed and evaluated in the flow and transport model. The primary difference in the PRGs is the longevity and location of the uranium plume, which will affect the remedial costs and potential stakeholder acceptance.


The homogeneity test of glass plates in a Fizeau interferometer is hampered by the superposition of multiple interference signals coming from the surfaces of the glass plate as well as the empty Fizeau cavity. To evaluate interferograms resulting from such nested cavities, various approaches such as the use of broadband light sources have been applied. In this paper, we propose an adaptive frequency comb interferometer to accomplish the cavity selection. An adjustable Fabry–Perot resonator is used to generate a variable frequency comb that can be matched to the length of the desired cavity. Owing to its flexibility, the number of measurements needed for the homogeneity test can be reduced to four. Furthermore, compared to approaches using a two-beam interferometer as a filter for the broadband light source, the visibility of the fringe system is considerably higher if a Fabry–Perot filter is applied.


22/10/04 Abstract The question how knowledge can be represented by means of logic programs with negation has been a driving force for the field of non-monotonic reasoning. Implemented systems, known as answer set programming systems, have emerged recently and are currently being used in various application domains like the semantic web. Intuitively, logic programs are being used for encoding commonsense resoning, in particular the phenomenon that human reasoning tends to "jump to conclusions" under incomplete knowledge. Formally, this kind of reaoning is described by interpreting the first-order syntax of logic programs in a more sophisticated way. This, in turn, is most easily done by means of fixed points of semantic operators. The study of different semantic operators and their relationships gives rise to a rich theory. In this lecture, we will undertake a thorough formal study of these issues as a foundation for the study of advanced topics in theoretical or applied non-mononotonic reasoning. Particular emphasis will be on basic paradigms and on the supported, Kripke-Kleene, stable, and well-founded semantics for logic programs and their rich relationships.


Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivation in immune compromised patients such as those undergoing hematopoietic progenitor cell transplantation (HPCT) and those with HIV infections can cause severe morbidity and mortality despite treatment with appropriate antiviral agents. The recovery of Cytomegalovirus (CMV) specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) plays an important role in the reconstitution of CMV specific immunity in immunocompromised patients. Recent studies have reported that CMV reactivation can be successfully treated by adoptive transfer of CMV-specific T cell clones from CMV seropositive donors expanded in vitro with CMV infected fibroblasts or lysates of CMV infected cells. Other studies have used immune dominant CMV proteins or peptides to expand CMV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. This review describes the clinical manifestations of CMV disease in immunocompromised patients, recent advances of antiviral therapy for CMV disease, the principals of the induction of cellular immune response to CMV, and the clinical application of CMV immunotherapy.


Mutations in the LIM-homeodomain transcription factor LMX1B cause nail-patella syndrome, an autosomal dominant pleiotrophic human disorder in which nail, patella and elbow dysplasia is associated with other skeletal abnormalities and variably nephropathy and glaucoma. It is thought to be a haploinsufficient disorder. Studies in the mouse have shown that during development Lmx1b controls limb dorsal-ventral patterning and is also required for kidney and eye development, midbrain-hindbrain boundary establishment and the specification of specific neuronal subtypes. Mice completely deficient for Lmx1b die at birth. In contrast to the situation in humans, heterozygous null mice do not have a mutant phenotype. Here we report a novel mouse mutant Icst, an N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea-induced missense substitution, V265D, in the homeodomain of LMX1B that abolishes DNA binding and thereby the ability to transactivate other genes. Although the homozygous phenotypic consequences of Icst and the null allele of Lmx1b are the same, heterozygous Icst elicits a phenotype whilst the null allele does not. Heterozygous Icst causes glaucomatous eye defects and is semi-lethal, probably due to kidney failure. We show that the null phenotype is rescued more effectively by an Lmx1b transgene than is Icst. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments show that both wild-type and Icst LMX1B are found in complexes with LIM domain binding protein 1 (LDB1), resulting in lower levels of functional LMX1B in Icst heterozygotes than null heterozygotes. We conclude that Icst is a dominant-negative allele of Lmx1b. These findings indicate a reassessment of whether nail-patella syndrome is always haploinsufficient. Furthermore, Icst is a rare example of a model of human glaucoma caused by mutation of the same gene in humans and mice.


The success of political liberalism depends on there being an overlapping consensus among reasonable citizens—including religious citizens—upon principles of political morality. This paper explores the resources within one major religion—Christianity—that might lead individuals to endorse (or reject) political liberalism, and thus to join (or not join) the overlapping consensus. I show that there are several strands within Christian political ethics that are consonant with political liberalism and might form the basis for Christian citizens' membership of the overlapping consensus. Nonetheless, tensions remain, and it is not clear that Christians could wholeheartedly endorse the political conception or give unreserved commitment to political liberal ideals.


Unionfs is a stackable file system that virtually merges a set of directories (called branches) into a single logical view. Each branch is assigned a priority and may be either read-only or read-write. When the highest priority branch is writable, Unionfs provides copy-on-write semantics for read-only branches. These copyon-write semantics have lead to widespread use of Unionfs by LiveCD projects including Knoppix and SLAX. In this paper we describe our experiences distributing and maintaining an out-of-kernel module since November 2004. As of March 2006 Unionfs has been downloaded by over 6,700 unique users and is used by over two dozen other projects. The total number of Unionfs users, by extension, is in the tens of thousands.


In this paper the results reached in the use of a remote control laboratory are presented and analyzed. During both last academic years (courses 2007/08 and 2008/09) a set of remote laboratories has been operational so that the students of diverse subjects of engineering and Universities can perform the laboratory practices through Internet. In engineering studies the accomplishment of practices with physical or virtual systems that complement the knowledge acquired by the students is essential. By means of these laboratory practices and experiments the students can understand and assimilate the theoretical knowledge provided in classical lessons. In this type of technical degrees, is of great importance the use of real physical systems. One of the main problems that must be take into account by education centres is the possibility of having a high number of laboratories and physical systems on which the students can make these teaching practices. Frequently, these laboratories need equipment that is expensive and must be replicated in enough amounts so that the students can realise experiments individually or in groups composed by few students. The use of the remote laboratories, which have arisen during the past few years, allows that the students can accede to these physical systems at any moment and from any location, whenever they have access to Internet. In this way, the use of laboratory equipment is made flexible allowing a more suitable use of it, since it is not necessary to go to the laboratory to realise the experiments. During both last academic courses, an action of educational innovation has started up at the Elche's Miguel Hernandez University that has allowed a group of students to arrange the traditional laboratory practices with this remote laboratory. This experience has been carried out in subjects related to the discipline of automatic control. Specifically it has carried out in several courses: PLC's and Control Systems within the degrees of Industrial Engineering and Telecommunications Engineering. Some of the most significant aspects reached in this experience are analyzed in this paper: types of practices carried out during these two academic courses; number of students who have accomplished them; index of satisfaction in the execution of the practices; evaluation and learning success in relation to the traditional practices, etc. Of the experience obtained during these two academic courses it is possible conclude that the results are highly satisfactory from both: the student point of view with a more flexible participation to their needs, and from the teacher point of view that could interact with the student, in specific questions and observe at any moment the degree of learning of the student.


Ongoing innovations in recurrent neural network architectures have provided a steady influx of apparently state-of-the-art results on language modelling benchmarks. However, these have been evaluated using differing codebases and limited computational resources, which represent uncontrolled sources of experimental variation. We reevaluate several popular architectures and regularisation methods with large-scale automatic black-box hyperparameter tuning and arrive at the somewhat surprising conclusion that standard LSTM architectures, when properly regularised, outperform more recent models. We establish a new state of the art on the Penn Treebank and Wikitext-2 corpora, as well as strong baselines on the Hutter Prize dataset.


There is no exact word for psychotherapy in many Nigerian languages, numbering over 250. But equivalent words exist for expression such as counselling and cognitive behaviour therapy. The practice of these arts predated the advent of the Europeans. When modern psychology arrived in our shores, we naturally adopted the Euro-American models of psychotherapy. All that makes psychotherapy necessary can be found in our country: trauma due to child abuse, and neglect, abuse of human dignity, tribal wars, political conflict, poverty, migration and stress-provoking lifestyles, among others. The Aro village system developed by Lambo is an attestation to the usefulness of some of our native approaches and to the efficacy of social support that is inherent in the African traditional system. The introduction of a bilingual group psychotherapy at Aro in the early 1990 was a natural follow-up to this development. Group therapy is the most popular form of psychotherapy as it is practised in most teaching hospitals and psychiatric establishments. Meseron therapy and harmony restoration therapy are the two foremost indigenous approaches to psychotherapy in Nigeria. Meseron therapy is cognitive-behavioural in orientation while harmony restoration therapy is existential-phenomenological. Other therapies commonly taught and practised include: Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy; Cognitive Behaviour Therapy; Behaviour Therapy; The Psychodynamic Therapies, etc. Modern psychotherapy services are available in private clinics/consultations, schools, hospitals and medical centres. The services are offered by a wide variety of professionals ranging from clinical psychologists and psychiatrist, to social workers, nurses and pastors. At present, focused training in psychotherapy is inadequate, in spite of the efforts by the universities and the Nigerian Association of Clinical Psychologists. This is an important lacuna that the School of Psychotherapy and Health Sciences, Okija, has come to fill.


The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of biological sex and age on the pacing strategies adopted by non-drafting top triathletes during the cycle and run disciplines of a Sprint, Olympic, half-Ironman and Ironman triathlon. Split times of the top 20% non-elite males (n=468) and females (n=146) were determined using official race transponders and a video capture system for pre-determined sections of the cycle and run disciplines of four triathlon distances. Indices of pacing were calculated to compare between sexes and age-groups. Results of this study indicated that different pacing strategies were adopted between athletes of different age and sex over the various triathlon disciplines and distances. Females were more aggressive during the initial stages of the cycling discipline across all distances (sprint - 2.1% p=0.024; Olympic - 1.6%, p=0.011; half-Ironman- 1.5%, p<0.001; Ironman - 1.7%, p<0.001 higher relative to mean) compare with males. Younger athletes (20-29 y) tend to begin the run faster (2.0 to 3.0% faster than other age-groups, p<0.029) during the sprint, Olympic and half-Ironman triathlons. These results indicate that different pacing strategies are adopted by non-drafting top athletes of different age and sex. Optimal pacing strategies may differ between sex and ages; therefore individuals may need to trial different strategies to develop their own optimal pacing profile for triathlon events of varying distances.


This paper will consider how digital communication, social media, and the digital transformation of the publishing industry are transforming academic work practices. In light of increasing "impact" agendas, and pressures on academics to increase the reach, traction and appropriation of their published work using social media, the paper will consider the tensions, contradictions, attachments, hidden and not so hidden injuries that this is creating. This context, and the production of new forms of affective relationality, will be located within the rise of PPPR (post-publication-peer-review) where the published journal article no longer exists as a static un-modifiable entity. The paper will debate these issues, taking an affective and hauntological approach, by exploring two recent science controversies, which took shape across social media and within digital forms of communication (blogs, twitter, facebook, comments on websites etc). The paper will draw on empirical material taken from my forthcoming book, "Haunted Data: Social Media, Affect, Weird Science and Archives of the Future."


Infant mortality is an important indicator of the social well-being of society and reflects the state of the national health system as a whole. According to official statistics, the infant mortality rate in the Russian Federation has reached a significant decrease in recent years, but in comparison with the leading countries of the world it still remains high. The study found that in the Russian Federation infant mortality has a territorial differentiation, which indicates different policies of the executive authorities of the regions in the direction related to the reduction of infant mortality. The review article contains data on the dynamics of infant mortality in the Republic of Ingushetia and other republics of the North Caucasus Federal District. A significant decrease in the infant mortality rate in the Republic of Ingushetia is shown as a result of the effective interaction of state authorities at all levels. The need for an integrated approach in the system of management decisions for the development of the perinatal service in the regions of the Russian Federation has been proved.