BACKGROUND
American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) are frequently misclassified as another race in cancer surveillance systems, resulting in underestimated morbidity and mortality. Linkage methods with administrative records have been used to correct AI/AN misclassification, but AI/AN populations living in urban areas, and those who self-identify as AI/AN race, continue to be under-ascertained. The aim of this study was to evaluate racial misclassification in two cancer registries in Washington State using an urban AI/AN patient roster linked with a list of Indian Health Service (IHS) enrollees.

METHODS
We conducted probabilistic record linkages to identify racial misclassification using a combined demographic dataset of self-identified AI/AN patients of a large, urban Indian health center, and administratively-identified AI/AN enrolled with the IHS. Age-adjusted incidence rates were calculated for 3 linkage populations: AI/ AN originally coded in each cancer registry, post-linkage AI/AN identified through the IHS roster alone, and post-linkage AI/AN identified through either the urban or IHS file.

RESULTS
In the state and regional cancer registries, 11% and 18%, respectively, of matched cases were originally coded as a race other than AI/AN; approximately 35% of these were identified by the urban file alone. Incidence rate estimates increased after linkage with the IHS file, and further increased with the addition of urban records. Matches identified by the urban patient file resulted in the largest relative incidence change being demonstrated for King County (which includes Seattle); the all-site invasive cancer rate increased 8.8%, from 443 to 482 per 100,000.

CONCLUSIONS
Inclusion of urban and self-identified AI/AN records can increase case ascertainment in cancer surveillance systems beyond linkage methods using only administrative sources.


The experiment was conducted during 2006-08 in SKUAST-K, Shalimar, Srinagar Rhizosphere soil samples were collected from different strawberry fields in Srinagar and Baramulla districts . Among phosphate solubilizing bacteria that colonize aggressively the plant roots fluorescent pseudomonads have been considered as an important group due to their biofertilizing and biocontrol properties . Fluorescent pseudomonad bacteria were isolated on Kings medium B (KB) and were identified under UV light (366nm). Phosphate solubilizing activity was performed by growing the cells in Pikovskaya's broth, soluble free phosphate in culture supernatant was estimated spectrophotometrically by recording absorbance value at 600nm, using the calibration curve with KH2PO4. All the isolates were screened for multifaceted plant growth promoting activities li ke production of IAA, sidrophore, HCN, ACC deaminase, ammonia, activities of enzymes like protease, chitinase, cellulase, pectinase, antagonistic potential and mineral solubilization (K, Zn and Fe) by using standard methods. All the isolates except PS3, P S7 and PS9 produced IAA, siderophore, HCN and ammonia. Screening of antagonistic activity of all the isolates confirmed that out of 20, 17 isolates exhibited antagonistic potential against Fusarium sp. with varying levels of inhibition of mycelial growth. However the maximum inhibition was recorded in PS2 isolate. Out of 20 isolates only PS1, PS7 and PS10 produced ACC deaminase. The isolates PS3 and PS7 were negative for proteinase and chitinase activity . Cellulase enzyme was almost abundantly produced by each isolate except PS3, PS7 and PS9 which showed poor cellulose activity. Moderate to poor pectinase activity was shown by all the isolates barring PS9 which did not produce any pectinase . All the isolates except PS7, PS11 and PS16 utilized with varying degrees several carbon sources as identified by Hi Carbohydrate TM kit test. The isolates PS3, PS8 and PS9 were unable to solubilize any mineral nutrient while as rest of the 17 strains solubilized insoluble Phosphate, zinc and iron compounds . Numerical taxonomy of isolates based on the basis of their carbon source utilization profile resulted in to two major phenons at 0.27 similarity coefficient level. On the basis of these results it was concluded that there existed some level of variability among th e fluorescent pseudomonads found in the rhizosphere of strawberry fields.


Advances in experimental techniques have transformed biology into a data-intensive science, with a rapid explosion of data at the genomic and proteomic level. Few comprehensive suites of computationally-intensive life science applications are available to the computer science community for optimization of current high-performance architectures specifically targeted towards the computational biology applications. BioSplash represents a wide variety of open-source codes spanning the heterogeneity of algorithms, biological problems, popularity among biologists, and memory traits, gearing the suite to be of importance to both biologists and computer scientists.


Aims: Malaria, a morbid disease of Tropical countries, may harmful if it cannot be diagnosed at its early phase, by observing the changes in hematological parameters. Our aim was to compare the hematological parameters between Plasmodium falciparum and vivax in relation to control healthy group in West Bengal. Methods and materials: In total 238 slide or dual antigen positive patients (120= Plasmodium vivax, 118=plasmodium falciparum) clinical hematological, renal parameters were compared. Results: In Plasmodium vivax and falciparum, male to female ratio was 3:1 and 1.3:1 respectively. Significant elevation in erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR),differential lymphocyte count, creatinine and significant lowering of platelet count, fasting blood sugar (FBS) were observed in plasmodium vivax group, whereas, significant elevation of hemoglobin, differential monocyte count, mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration were seen in plasmodium falciparum group. Haemoglobin and FBS were significantly lower, whereas, ESR, creatinine, differential monocyte count were high in vivax group, total white blood cell and platelet count, hematocrit were low in both Plasmodium infection and mean corpuscular hemoglobin, differential lymphocyte count were significantly low in falciparum group as compared to control group. Conclusion: Combination of low hemoglobin, fasting blood sugar and significantly raised ESR is highly significant in predicting severity of Plasmodium infection in patients of malaria endemic areas, which was evidenced in our present study. P. falciparum and vivax suffered from lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia respectively.


As a burgeoning field in cognitive scientific research, Cognitive Poetics has been expanding its scope and methods (cf. Brone 2009; Gavins and Steen 2003; Semino and Culpeper 2002; Stockwell 2002; Tsur 2008). However, so far few attempts have been made to explore the usefulness of parallel texts (or parallel corpora) as a methodology in cognitive poetics for cross-linguistic investigations. We propose to that literary masterpieces that are translated into multiple languages are a fertile testing ground of cognitive poetics. We treat the author and the translators as text producers that intend to tell the same story in their respective languages to their readers; thus we are dealing with two or more usage events with highly similar, if not identical, ideational contents, that may differ in their construal (Langacker 1999), in this case due to differences between the languages involved. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of this methodology, we use the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland and one of its Chinese translations for a parallel study (another translation by Y.R. Chao will be added at a later stage). We focus on demonstrative pronouns, which are fundamental cognitive coordination devices and have attracted much scholarly interest (Ariel 1988; Botley and McEnery 2001; Diessel 2003; Enfield 2003; Glover 2000; Himmelmann 1996; Janssen 1995; Kirsner 1993; Laury 1997; Levinson 2004; Piwek et al. 2007; Strauss 2002; Vries 1995; Wu 2004). In particular, we examine four demonstrative pronouns in English, i.e. this, that, these and those, and their Chinese counterparts, zhe 'this', na 'that', zhe-xie 'this-plural', and na-xie 'that-plural'. (We investigate exclusively the referential, demonstrative function of these forms , so excluding other grammatical uses of the same forms, such as discourse markers (for zhe and na), relative pronouns and complementizers (for that)).


The German human biomonitoring system on a national level consists of two main instruments: the German Environmental Survey and the Environmental Specimen Bank. The German Environmental Survey (GerES) is a nationwide population study which has been carried out repeatedly in Germany since the mid-1980s. Human biomonitoring data are representative for people living in Germany with regard to age, gender and community size. The GerES I for adults was carried out in 1985/1986 (West Germany), followed by GerES IIa in 1990/91 (West Germany) and GerES IIb in 1991/92 (East Germany). In GerES II, the children of participating parents were also included. In 1998, GerES III for adults was conducted in the reunified Germany. GerES IV (2003/2006) focused exclusively on children. To elucidate exposure pathways and thus support the development of measures to reduce exposure, GerES uses three main instruments: human biomonitoring, ambient monitoring, and questionnaires. GerES I–IV have been conducted in close co-operation with the concurrent National Health Interview and Examination Surveys performed by the Robert Koch Institute, Berlin.The Environmental Specimen Bank (ESB) started routine operation in 1985. Human specimens are taken annually from students at four German university towns, archived as individual samples, and stored at temperatures below –150 °C. After more than two decades of operation the ESB now provides a continuous historical record of the state of exposure of humans and the environment in Germany for this period, thus supplying samples for retrospective monitoring of emerging pollutants, and the identification of temporal trends and spatial load differences.


We report the optical characterization of an InP structure constituted by waveguides coupled to microcavity disk resonators. The lateral waveguide confinement is obtained by deep reactive ion etching through the guiding layer. We demonstrate the possibility of tuning optically the resonance wavelength into the illuminating disk resonator. We obtained a blueshift of 3 nm by laser irradiation at 980 nm corresponding to a photoinduced change in the effective refractive index of 6 x 10(-3). The InP structure behaves as a tunable optical demultiplexer.


Myocardial infarction is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Occlusion of a coronary artery produces ischemia and myocardial necrosis that leads to left ventricular (LV) remodeling, dysfunction, and heart failure. Stem cell therapy may decrease infarct size and improve LV function; the hypoxic environment, however, following a myocardial infarction may result in apoptosis, which in turn decreases survival of transplanted stem cells. Therefore, the effects of preconditioned mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) with hyperoxia (100% oxygen), Z‐VAD‐FMK pan‐caspase inhibitor (CI), or both in a hypoxic environment in order to mimic conditions seen in cardiac tissue post‐myocardial infarction were studied in vitro. MSCs preconditioned with hyperoxia or CI significantly decreased apoptosis as suggested by TUNEL assay and Annexin V analysis using fluorescence assisted cell sorting. These effects were more profound when both, hyperoxia and CI, were used. Additionally, gene and protein expression of caspases 1, 3, 6, 7, and 9 were down‐regulated significantly in MSCs preconditioned with hyperoxia, CI, or both, while the survival markers Akt1, NF‐κB, and Bcl‐2 were significantly increased in preconditioned MSCs. These changes ultimately resulted in a significant increase in MSC proliferation in hypoxic environment as determined by BrdU assays compared to MSCs without preconditioning. These effects may prove to be of great clinical significance when transplanting stem cells into the hypoxic myocardium of post‐myocardial infarction patients in order to attenuate LV remodeling and improve LV function. J. Cell. Biochem. 114: 2612–2623, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


The combination of collision-activated dissociation, (CAD) and electron capture dissociation, (ECD) yielded a 125% increase in protein identification. The S-score was developed for measuring the information content in MS/MS spectra. This measure made it possible to single out good quality spectra that were not identified by a search engine. Poor quality MS/MS data was filtered out, streamlining the identification process.A proteomics grade de novo sequencing approach was developed enabling to almost completely sequence 19% of all MS/MS data with 95% reliability in a typical proteomics experiment.A new tool, Modificomb, for identifying all types of modifications in a fast, reliable way was developed. New types of modifications have been discovered and the extent of modifications in gel based proteomics turned out to be greater than expected.PhosTShunter was developed for sensitive identification of all phosphorylated peptides in an MS/MS dataset.Application of these programs to human milk samples led to identification of a previously unreported and potentially biologically important phosphorylation site.Peptide fragmentation has been studied. It was shown emphatically on a dataset of 15.000 MS/MS spectra that CAD and ECD have different cleavage preferences with respect to the amino acid context.Hydrogen rearrangement involving z• species has been investigated. Clear trends have been unveiled. This information elucidated the mechanism of hydrogen transfer.Partial side-chain losses in ECD have been studied. The potential of these ions for reliably distinguishing Leu/Iso residues was shown. Partial sidechain losses occurring far away from the cleavage site have been detected.A strong correlation was found between the propensities of amino acids towards peptide bond cleavage employing CAD and the propensity of amino acids to accept in solution backbone-backbone H-bonds and form stable motifs. This indicated that the same parameter governs formation of secondary structures in solution and directs fragmentation in peptide ions by CAD.


There are several annual rail rate indices commonly used to depict changes in the prices paid for rail service. While accurate for general analyses, each of these indices falls short in capturing the three major components of total railroad grain rates – tariff rates, fuel surcharges, and secondary railcar market costs. Grain is a rail commodity whereby bids in the secondary railcar market can affect whether the actual rate paid by shippers is above or below the published tariff rate. The seasonality of rates inherent in grain transportation is captured through the secondary market but is neither contained in other grain rail rate indices nor apparent in annualized data. In addition, most grain rate indices do not include fuel surcharges, which have become a major component of the total rate paid for any rail commodity movement. In this paper, we develop new rail rate indices for unit trains and shuttle trains and compare them against a rail cost index. The new indices are an improvement upon past grain rail rate indices by including information from the secondary rail market, fuel surcharges, and tariff rates into a weekly index between the years 1997 and 2011. The improved indices show a higher level of detail when compared to other annualized indices, allowing for a more thorough analysis of grain rates. These indices show grain rail rates generally higher than do other indices with a notable departure from rail costs at the beginning of the economic recession in 2009. A comparison of the rail indices with rail costs calls into question whether earlier conclusions about rail market power still hold.


Objectives—To investigate the physiological and anthropometric characteristics of amateur rugby league players. Methods—Thirty five amateur rugby league players (19 forwards and 16 backs) were measured for height, body mass, percentage body fat (sum of four skinfolds), muscular power (vertical jump), speed (10 m and 40 m sprint), and maximal aerobic power (multistage fitness test). Data were also collected on match frequency, training status, playing experience, and employment related physical activity levels. Results—The 10 m and 40 m sprint, vertical jump, percentage body fat, and multistage fitness test results were 20–42% poorer than previously reported for professional rugby league players. Compared with forwards, backs had significantly (p<0.01) lower body mass (79.7 (74.7–84.7) kg v 90.8 (86.2–95.4) kg) and significantly (p<0.01) greater speed during the 40 m sprint (6.45 (6.35–6.55) v 6.79 (6.69–6.89) seconds). Values for percentage body fat, vertical jump, 10 m sprint, and maximal aerobic power were not significantly different (p>0.05) between forwards and backs. When compared with professional rugby league players, the training status of amateur rugby league players was 30–53% lower, with players devoting less than three hours a week to team training sessions and about 30 minutes a week to individual training sessions. The training time devoted to the development of muscular power (about 13 minutes a week), speed (about eight minutes a week), and aerobic fitness (about 34 minutes a week) did not differ significantly (p>0.05) between forwards and backs. At the time of the field testing, players had participated, on average, in one 60 minute match every eight days. Conclusions—The physiological and anthropometric characteristics of amateur rugby league players are poorly developed. These findings suggest that position specific training does not occur in amateur rugby league. The poor fitness of non-elite players may be due to a low playing intensity, infrequent matches of short duration, and/or an inappropriate training stimulus.


This work provides the first direct, at-sea monitoring of small cetacean interactions with Peruvian artisanal drift gillnet and longline vessels. A total of 253 small cetaceans were observed captured during 66 fishing trips (480 sets) monitored from March 2005-July 2007 in the port of Salaverry, northern Peru. Interactions consisted of 231 animals caught in gillnets, 1 in a longline and 21 direct takes by harpooning for use as bait. The most commonly captured species were long-beaked common dolphins Delphinus capensis, dusky dolphins Lagenorhynchus obscurus, common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus (offshore stock) and Burmeister's porpoises Phocoena spinipinnis. Overall bycatch CPUE (catch per unit effort) was estimated to be 0.677 animals/set and 0.007 animals/set for gillnet and longline vessels, respectively. Based upon total fishing effort for the port, we estimated the average of small cetacean bycatch at 2,623 animals/year (CI 2,061-3,185) for 2002-2007. This work indicates that, in at least one Peruvian port, bycatch and harpooning of small cetaceans persist at high levels and on a regular basis, particularly in driftnet vessels. The formerly unknown practice of at-sea discarding of carcasses stands in sharp contrast with current, high small cetacean discard rates (49%) found in this study. That, combined with high prices/lack of availability of traditional bait fish suggest that small cetacean bycatch and harpooning could now potentially be reduced through the implementation of bycatch mitigation measures and greater accessibility to preferred bait.


Cardiac hypertrophy is characterized by abnormal enlargement of cardiomyocytes and disproportionate accumulation of extracellular interstitial fibrosis, which are major predictors of the development of coronary artery disease and heart failure. Naringenin is a bitter principle component of grapefruit that has numerous pharmacological effects, including anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemic, antithrombotic and antiatherogenic properties. In order to investigate whether naringenin is able to exert a protective effect against cardiac hypertrophy induced by pressure overload, aortic banding (AB) was performed to induce cardiac hypertrophy in mice, and naringenin was administered for 7 weeks. A total of 60 mice were allocated into four groups: Sham + vehicle, AB + vehicle, sham + naringenin and AB + naringenin. Naringenin treatment attenuated cardiac dysfunction, as indicated by the results of echocardiography and catheter-based measurements at 8 weeks post-surgery. The extent of cardiac hypertrophy was assessed by the heart weight/body weight, heart weight/tibial length and lung weight/body weight ratios, in addition to the cardiomyocyte cross-sectional area and the mRNA expression levels of hypertrophic maker, all of which were mitigated by naringenin administration. Naringenin also inhibited the expression of transforming growth factor-β1, connective tissue growth factor, collagen Iα and collagen IIIα, and attenuated interstitial fibrosis. In addition, naringenin downregulated the activation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathways. In conclusion, naringenin attenuated cardiac hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis, in addition to improving left ventricular function in pressure-overloaded mice. The cardioprotective effect exerted by naringenin may be associated with the inhibition of PI3K/Akt, ERK and JNK signaling pathways.


Frothy bloat in cattle is a serious problem and is difficult to manage under field conditions as it progresses rapidly from early signs of distension to acute distress. Scientists at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada centres in Western Canada are committed to the development of bloat-free alfalfa grazing systems, which may require feed additives or supplements. As well, a new cultivar of alfalfa (AC Grazeland), selected for a low initial rate of digestion, will soon be available. In grazing trials the cultivar reduced the incidence of bloat by an average of 56% compared with the control cultivar (Beaver). Commonly accepted mineral mixes for the prevention of bloat were tested and found ineffective but we have confirmed that poloxalene (Bloatguard) is 100% effective if it is given intraruminally at the prescribed dose. However, under practical conditions, poloxalene can only be offered free choice and protection from bloat cannot be guaranteed. We have also shown that the water soluble polymer, Blocare 4511, when used in the water supply is 100% effective in bloat prevention. This product is not yet registered in North America. Other strategies for bloat prevention will be discussed, including the selection of growth stages and grazing schedules, and the reduction of risk by wilting alfalfa or combining it with tannin-containing forages. DOI:10.2458/azu_jrm_v54i4_majak


Recent years have seen advances in building large Internet-scale index structures, generally known as structured overlays. Early structured overlays realized distributed hash tables (DHTs) which are ill suited for anything but exact queries. The need to support range queries necessitates systems that can handle uneven load distributions. However such systems suffer from practical problems—including poor latency, disproportionate bandwidth usage at participating peers, or unrealistic assumptions on peers' homogeneity, in terms of available storage or bandwidth resources. In this article we consider a system that is not only able to support uneven load distributions but also to operate in heterogeneous environments, where each peer can autonomously decide how much of its resources to contribute to the system. We provide the theoretical foundations of realizing such a network and present a newly proposed system Oscar based on these principles. Oscar can construct efficient overlays given arbitrary load distributions by employing a novel scalable network sampling technique. The simulations of our system validate the theory and evaluate Oscar's performance under typical challenges, encountered in real-life large-scale networked systems, including participant heterogeneity, faults, and skewed and dynamic load-distributions. Thus the Oscar distributed index fills in an important gap in the family of structured overlays, bringing into life a practical Internet-scale index, which can play a crucial role in enabling data-oriented applications distributed over wide-area networks.


With the failure of market reform to generate sustained growth in many countries of the Global South, poverty reduction has become an urgent moral and political issue in the last several decades. In practice, considerable research shows that high levels of inequality are likely to produce high levels of criminal and political violence. On the road to development, states cannot but grapple with the challenges posed by poverty and wealth distribution. Social Forces and States explains the reasons behind distinct distributional and poverty outcomes in three countries: South Korea, Chile, and Mexico. South Korea has successfully reduced poverty and has kept inequality low. Chile has reduced poverty but inequality remains high. Mexico has confronted higher levels of poverty and high inequality than either of the other countries. Judith Teichman takes a comparative historical approach, focusing upon the impact of the interaction between social forces and states. Distinct from approaches that explain social well-being through a comparative examination of social welfare regimes, this book probes more deeply, incorporating a careful consideration of how historical contexts and political struggles shaped very different development trajectories, welfare arrangements, and social possibilities.


The authors present a nonlinear stability analysis for constrained robotic motion, a maneuver where the manipulator contacts the environment. The external disturbances, sensor noises, parameter uncertainties, and the dynamics of the total system composed of the robot and the environment have been modeled. The control of the manipulator is divided into two components: a computed torque trajectory controller that regulates the robot position and a compliance controller that modulates contact forces. Three sufficient conditions for stability have been derived. The first condition guarantees the stability of the system of robot and finite stiff environment when no force sensor and, consequently, no force feedback is considered for the system. The second condition guarantees stability of the robot and environment when a compliance compensator (operating on the contact force) supplements the trajectory controller. The third stability criterion shows that, for a robot contacting a very stiff environment, the gain of the compliance compensator must vary in inverse proportion to the gain of the trajectory compensator. >


Abstract Introduction: Nowadays, despite socio-economic development of communities and controlling majority of communicable diseases, tuberculosis is still one of the main causes of mortality and disability in developing countries. With respect to importance and high incidence of tuberculosis in marginal provinces, the present study aimed to assess the epidemiology of Tuberculosis in Khuzestan province during 2005-2012. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective descriptive-analytical study. Documents of 6363 patients were assessed using the census sampling method. Demographic variables and other necessary data were recorded by TB-Register software and then these data were analyzed through SPSS-16 software. Chi-square and Independent T tests with a significance level of less than 5% were used for the statistical analysis. Poisson test was used to compare TB incidence in consecutive years. Results: The mean age of participants was 39.3 ± 18 years old. The women's mean age was 2.1 years older than men and there was a significant relationship between age of males and females (P = 0.0001). Cumulative incidence was 148.84/100,000 in the province. More than three quarters (75.7%) were diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis, HIV infected (2.7%) and 91.2% were new cases in total. Lymph nodes were the most prevalent in Non-pulmonary TB. Poisson test showed that changing trends of TB incidence was statistically significant in study years (p<0.05). Conclusion: Increasing HIV infection occurrence and TB in southwest of Iran is of the great concerns for public health. Screening, training and preventive activities for controlling of disease is highly recommended for the whole country and in margin provinces in particular.


Background: Conformity is sanctioned at Sierra Leonean families' mealtimes not only to streamline behaviour, but also to overhaul the character of individuals in order to increase their acceptance in society. These norms are reinforced to promote appropriate ethical standards at mealtimes. Consequently, moral family education at mealtimes is fundamental for knowledge transfer and for instilling appropriate discipline in children. The importance of this is that it plays a critical part in refining the thoughts of individuals within a family at mealtimes, which enables them to understand their roles and positions in the family and their relationship with others within and without the family, especially visitors and extended family members. Thus, building relationship with other members of the family is a mandatory requirement at mealtimes, as it serves to foster continuity and the long-term survival of the family. Tacitly, family cohesion is central to how families relate with each other at mealtimes and acts as a critical determinant of the degree of closeness in a family, which is vital for the families' public image. Methods: The researcher used one-to-one semi-structured qualitative interviews to investigate families' views and experiences of their mealtimes' behaviours. In this research, due to the fact that the selected samples of families were unknown, the researcher used snowballing; convenience; and experiential sampling in recruiting respondents, including males and females from different cultural, ethnic, religious and professional backgrounds, across the different regions of Sierra Leone. The interviews were guided by a topic, and this procedure was followed until no new themes emerged. The interviews were recorded using an audio recorder, which were transcribed verbatim and analysed using a thematic approach. Results: A total of 20 families (comprising 20 husbands and 20 wives) with a sample size of 40 participants were used in this study. The paper highlights the influence of conformity on the behaviour of Christian and Muslim families (husband and wife) at mealtimes and draw attention to its significance as influencer of collectivism, particularly in relation to its impact on the social interaction between similar and dissimilar gender groups. The author critically assessed the extent of the influence of conformity on families' meal social interaction behaviour and presented a comparative analytical summary of how gender affects the meal behaviours of different gender and religious groups. Conclusion: The aspect of conformity, as emphasised by a majority of the respondents, is used to not only reinforce family norms, beliefs and values, but to imbibe discipline among family members at the dinner table.


Among rapidly-growing opportunistic mycobacteria, organisms of the Mycobacterium fortuitum-Mycobacterium chelonae complex (M. fortuitum, M. chelonae, M. abscessus and M. peregrinum) were isolated in significantly higher numbers during the period 1993-99 from clinical samples in Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana. Based on biochemical and cultural tests and PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the hsp65 gene, 51 isolates from 47 patients were unambiguously identified as M. fortuitum. A molecular epidemiological study by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) using DraI and Xbal digestions of bacterial DNA revealed two clusters designated A and B; cluster A was composed of strains showing 10 bands that were isolated from 3 patients in Martinique within a 2-months period in 1999, and the cluster B was composed of 2 strains showing 9 bands from 2 patients in Martinique, also isolated within a 2-months period in 1999. The available epidemiological and clinical information neither incriminated M. fortuitum as a cause of disease in these patients, nor showed any potential epidemiolgical links between them, except for the fact that the samples were processed in the same microbiology laboratory within a short span of time. In conclusion, isolation of M. fortuitum from non-sterile sites in patients without predisposing conditions, and in absence of repeated isolation, may be caused by contaminants or colonizers that are picked up more easily due to improvement of techniques used for mycobacterial isolation and identification.


Background Menstrual cycle phase has been correlated with risk of noncontact anterior cruciate ligament injury in women. The mechanism by which hormonal cycling may affect injury rate is unknown. Hypotheses Jumping and landing activities performed during different phases of the menstrual cycle lead to differences in foot strike knee flexion, as well as peak knee and hip loads, in women not taking an oral contraceptive but not in women taking an oral contraceptive. Women will experience greater normalized joint loads than men during these activities. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods Twenty-five women (13 using oral contraceptives) and 12 men performed repeated trials of a horizontal jump, vertical jump, and drop from a 30-cm box on the left leg. Lower limb kinematics (foot strike knee flexion) and peak externally applied moments were calculated (hip adduction moment, hip internal rotation moment, knee flexion moment, knee abduction moment). Men were tested once. Women were tested twice for each phase of the menstrual cycle (follicular, luteal, ovulatory), as determined from serum analysis. An analysis of variance was used to examine differences between phases of the menstrual cycle and between groups (α = .05). Results No significant differences in moments or knee angle were observed between phases in either female group or between the 2 female groups or between either female group and the male controls. Conclusions Variations of the menstrual cycle and the use of an oral contraceptive do not affect knee or hip joint loading during jumping and landing tasks. Clinical Relevance Because knee and hip joint loading is unaffected by cyclic variations in hormone levels, the observed difference in injury rates is more likely attributable to persistent differences in strength, neuromuscular coordination, or ligament properties.


Purpose: ZIP4 is overexpressed in human pancreatic cancer and promotes tumor growth. However, little is known about the role of ZIP4 in advanced stages of this dismal neoplasm. Our goal is to study the underlying mechanism and define a novel signaling pathway controlled by ZIP4-modulating pancreatic tumor metastasis. Experimental Design: The expression of ZIP4, ZO-1, claudin-1, and ZEB1 in human pancreatic cancer tissues, genetically engineered mouse model, xenograft tumor model, and pancreatic cancer cell lines were examined, and the correlations between ZIP4 and those markers were also analyzed. Functional analysis of ZO-1, claudin-1, and ZEB1 was investigated in pancreatic cancer cell lines and orthotopic xenografts. Results: Genetic inactivation of ZIP4 inhibited migration and invasion in pancreatic cancer and increased the expression of ZO-1 and claudin-1. Conversely, overexpression of ZIP4 promoted migration and invasion and increased the expression of ZEB1 and downregulation of the aforementioned epithelial genes. ZIP4 downregulation of ZO-1 and claudin-1 requires the transcriptional repressor ZEB1. Further analysis demonstrated that ZIP4-mediated repression of ZO-1 and claudin-1 leads to upregulation of their targets FAK and Paxillin. Silencing of ZIP4 caused reduced phosphorylation of FAK and Paxillin, which was rescued by simultaneous blocking of ZO-1 or claudin-1. Clinically, we demonstrated that ZIP4 positively correlates with the levels of ZEB1 and inversely associates with the expression of ZO-1 and claudin-1. Conclusions: These findings suggest a novel pathway activated by ZIP4-controlling pancreatic cancer invasiveness and metastasis, which could serve as a new therapeutic target for this devastating disease. Clin Cancer Res; 24(13); 3186–96. ©2018 AACR.


This book represents a first effort at bringing together a variety of systems theories and techniques and exploring their practical applicability to the health care system. It should have broad appeal both as an introductory reference work for health professionals unfamiliar with systems approaches and as a review of new techniques for those already working in this field.The papers collected in this work, presented at the Symposium on Systems and Medical Care held at Harvard in 1968, were written by the editors and other specialists in the fields of psychology, psychiatry, sociology, public health, and business administration. Each one deals individually with specific systems issues and professional approaches.Beginning with a general overview of systems concepts (general systems, systems analysis, and cybernetics) and recent literature relevant to health care, the book proceeds to discuss basic systems models of disease and medical care; the recent evolution of the medical care system; some specific interorganizational systems models; utility and application of systems analysis techniques and concepts in health; health systems planning; and processes and evaluation of change in systems. In a concluding essay, the editors summarize the various topics discussed and focus attention on some of the current problems and issues facing this emergent field.


The modernization of public organizations through the adoption of business processes has been a fundamental feature of British politics over the past twenty years. This agenda acts as an institutional pressure to make recipients of public funds more efficient and accountable to government and their 'citizen consumers'. In order to achieve the requirements established by modernization a number of management- inspired (New Managerialsm, New Public Management) tools and techniques have been used. This paper seeks to examine the case of a community sport organization and its experiences of seeking to conform with these pressures. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to our understanding of modernization and its ramifications on recipients of government and other statutory sector funding. To achieve this purpose we will draw Tatli's (2010) organizational conceptualization of Bourdieu's (1977) habitus using data collected through a longitudinal, ethnographic study that encompassed active-member observations and formal and informal interviews. The findings highlight how the organizational habitus acts as a moderating force that determines the success, or otherwise, of the organization's strategies, policies and actions. This permits us to explore how institutional pressures, such as modernization interact with the organizational habitus and in doing so assists us in understanding the factors that facilitate or resist change.


There are surprises in store for the diligent reader of this masterful introduction to recursion as a fundamental tool for expressing and solving problems. With wit and wisdom, "The Little LISPer" unfolds some of the most beautiful concepts in mathematics, computer science, and logic.The authors' goal is to show that recursive thinking is first of all fun, that it is powerful, and that the programming language Lisp allows one to express ideas recursively and naturally. There are hard problems along the way, but their solution brings mastery of recursive, functional, and meta-linguistic abstractions, developing skills in the underlying creative programming in Lisp. "The Little LISPer" is self-contained: an interpreter for the language is developed using the tools of the book itself .


Radiocarbon activity was negatively correlated (P≤.01) with a sunspot-auroral index during 25 designated solar activity periods from 129 B.C. to A.D. 1964. Change in carbon-14 activity during these periods was inverse to change in solar activity in 22 of 24 instances (P≤.001). Contamination from carbon-14 formed during previous solar cycles mnay lessen the value of carbon-14 as a climate or solar index.


Abstract Introduction: In clinical practice and experimental settings, cutaneous premalignant and malignant lesions are commonly diagnosed by histopathological biopsy. However, this technique is invasive and results in functional or cosmetic defects. Dynamic thermal imaging is a non-invasive technique that quantifies the infra-red (IR) radiation emitted by a subject after the introduction of external thermal stimuli (such as heat or cold). Methods: Forty hairless albino (Crl:SKH1-hr) mice were randomised to the control group or the experimental group. The experimental group was regularly irradiated with artificial ultraviolet. Clinical photographs, immunohistochemical staining and dynamic thermal imaging results of both groups were obtained. Results: As photocarcinogenesis proceeded, faster thermal recovery to basal temperature after heat stimuli was significant on dynamic thermal imaging. With histopathological correlations, it was possible to differentiate normal, premalignant and malignant cutaneous lesions according to thermal imaging results. CD 31 staining analysis showed that increased vasculature was the key change responsible for different thermal imaging results among photocarcinogenesis steps. Conclusions: Dynamic thermal imaging is useful to differentiate normal, premalignant and malignant cutaneous lesions. Increased vasculature is the key change responsible for different thermal imaging results.


Using Lauren Berlant's concept of cruel optimism, we address the ways in which rape culture, as depicted in Jay Asher's 13 Reasons Why and the first two seasons of the Netflix adaptation, shapes girls' agency and attachment to possible futures. We take seriously the ways in which social and institutional structures in 13 Reasons Why produce girls' livability as tied to everyday forms of sexist violence, which supposedly grant them access to what they think of as the good life. Bound up in these cruel attachments is a more limited set of options than may appear available: girls are called upon to endure daily violence in hopes of achieving this fantasy or to choose alternative paths, such as slow death or even suicide.


The growth of Asian economies in the 21st century and the shuffling of the balance of power through the US 'Pivot' to Asia will increasingly ask the EU and its member states to take positions in the relations with their Asian partners. Chinese resurgence and its impact on the region in addition to increasing investment in Europe and Africa have changed the dynamic of the EU's interaction with the Asia Pacific away from development assistance to cooperation (and competition) at eye level. This also means an overhaul of the EU's Asia strategy of 2001. Besides creating continuity in a currently disconnected web of diplomatic and trade relations, a new strategy should provide a guideline for pooling resources, expertise and networks of EU-China relations under a joint umbrella which is especially beneficial for smaller member states. This project puts forward analysis and concrete recommendations for an EU-Asia strategy along the main tensions of security and political relations, development cooperation and climate change policy. The three main recommendations are; (i) an increased cooperation through Asian multilateral fora and non-traditional security issues, (ii) that the EU position itself as a neutral arbiter in a volatile Asia Pacific, and, (iii) increased focus on public diplomacy.


This study investigated the effect of thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) on the formation of cartilage repair tissue in combination with stimulation by osteogenic protein-1 (OP-1). In miniature pigs, articular cartilage lesions in the femoral trochlea were treated by the microfracture technique and either received no further treatment (MFX), or were treated by additional application of recombinant osteogenic protein-1 (MFX+OP-1), recombinant TSP-1 (MFX+TSP-1), or a combination of both proteins (MFX+TSP-1+OP-1). Six and 26 weeks after surgery, the repair tissue and the degree of endochondral ossification were assessed by histochemical and immunohistochemical methods detecting collagen types I, II, X, TSP-1, and CD31. Microfracture treatment merely induced the formation of inferior fibrocartilaginous repair tissue. OP-1 stimulated chondrogenesis, but also induced chondrocyte hypertrophy, characterized by synthesis of collagen type X, and excessive bone formation. Application of TSP-1 inhibited inadvertant endochondral ossification, but failed to induce chondrogenesis. In contrast, the simultaneous application of both TSP-1 and OP-1 induced and maintained a permanent, nonhypertrophic chondrocyte-like phenotype within cartilage repair tissue. The data of this study demonstrate that OP-1 and TSP-1 complement each other in a functional manner. While OP-1 induces chondrogenesis of the ingrowing cells, TSP-1 prevents their further hypertrophic differentiation and prevents excessive endochondral ossification within the lesions.


This paper seeks to advance our understanding of the gendered implications of rural land dispossession. It does so through a comparative analysis of five cases of dispossession that were driven by different economic purposes in diverse agrarian contexts: the English enclosures; colonial and post-colonial rice irrigation projects in the Gambia; large dams in India; oil palm cultivation in Indonesia; and Special Economic Zones in India. The paper identifies some of the common gendered effects of land dispossession, showing in each case how this reproduced women's lack of independent land rights or reversed them where they existed, intensified household reproductive work and occurred without meaningful consultation with—much less decision-making by—rural women. The paper also demonstrates ways in which the gendered consequences of land dispossession vary across forms of dispossession and agrarian milieu. The most important dimension of this variation is the effect of land loss on the gendered division of labour, which is often deleterious but varies qualitatively across the cases examined. In addition, the paper illustrates further variations within dispossessed populations as gender intersects with class, caste and other inequalities. It concludes that land dispossession consistently contributes to gender inequality, albeit in socially and historically specific ways. So while defensive struggles against land dispossession will not in themselves transform patriarchal social relations, they may be a pre-condition for more offensive struggles for gender equality.


Reliable high quality traffic safety data has been essential for monitoring, developing and evaluating strategies to reduce the burden of injuries from traffic injuries. Information is often available in many different sources including police reports, ambulance/emergency medical service (EMS) run data, emergency department(ED) and hospital data, and mortality data from death certificates or medical examiner/coroner systems. However while each of these data systems has their own strengths and weakness, none can provide a comprehensive picture of traffic related injuries. Hospital trauma center records for example have extensive information on injuries and related medical problems but lack details on the mechanism of injury and crash and roadway characteristics. Often medical data cannot even distinguish drivers from pedestrians. Police or insurance crash reports on the other hand have considerable detail on the crash and circumstances surrounding it but have very poor data on the actual injuries sustained or their severity. This impedes targeting of prevention strategies towards serious injuries and fatalities. This presentation will use examples from current work on data linkage to demonstrate the value of linking traffic record data and explore how this approach can greatly advance traffic medicine and road safety in fast developing countries. In the United States linkage of crash data and medical data has been important for many traffic safety programs. One example is Maryland's Crash Outcome Data Evaluation System (CODES) that uses probabilistic methodology to link police crash records to injury outcome records. CODES was established in an effort to improve highway safety through the use of linked motor vehicle crash data collected from police, EMS, hospitals (emergency department or inpatient admissions), and death certificates. This linked data have been used for a variety of statewide studies such as of injured motorcyclists, effectiveness of seat belts at preventing injuries, studies of older drivers, an analysis of mismatch collisions, geographic analysis of pedestrian injuries, patterns of injury in frontal collisions, costs and consequences of lower extremity injuries, the safety of newer vehicles, and the impact of casino gambling on alcohol-related crashes. A new project seeks to overcome the serious lack of reliable routine data on drug involvement in fatal crashes by linking detailed toxicology data from medical examiners with the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) in a sentinel group of states. Similar data linkage is also used in other countries such as a New Zealand study estimating underreporting of serious injuries by police reports. An Australian study noted that workers compensation datasets can identify most serious cases of occupational traffic injuries but lack valuable information on the circumstances and risk factors contributing to work-related crashes. Through linkage to police crash reports the study was able to identify high risk groups such as heavy vehicle drivers and the role played by fatigue and speeding. Many fast developing countries also have useful crash reports either from police or insurance reports. However only through linkage with medical data can their full potential for reducing the burden of serous traffic injuries be realized?0 Language: en


Background and Purpose— Cerebral small vessel disease may be related to vascular and nonvascular pathology. We assessed whether lacunar infarcts and white matter lesions on MRI increased the risk of vascular and nonvascular death and future vascular events in patients with atherosclerotic disease. Methods— Brain MRI was performed in 1309 patients with atherosclerotic disease from the Second Manifestations of ARTerial disease-Magnetic Resonance (SMART-MR) study. Infarcts were scored visually and volumetric assessment of white matter lesion was performed. Patients were followed for a median of 4.5 years (range, 0.2 to 7.1 years) for death, ischemic stroke, and ischemic cardiac complications. Results— Cox regression models showed that presence of lacunar infarcts (n=229) increased the risk of vascular (hazard ratio, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.4 to 4.9) and nonvascular death (hazard ratio, 2.7; 95% CI, 1.3 to 5.3), adjusted for age, sex, vascular risk factors, nonlacunar infarcts, and white matter lesion. These risks were similar for patients with silent lacunar infarcts. White matter lesion volume (relative to total intracranial volume) increased the risk of vascular death (hazard ratio per milliliter increase, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.05) and white matter lesions in the upper quintile compared with lower quintiles increased risk of ischemic stroke (hazard ratio, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.3 to 4.9). Conclusions— Cerebral small vessel disease, with or without a history of cerebrovascular disease, is associated with increased risk of death and ischemic stroke in patients with atherosclerotic disease.


" Winner of the 35th Annual Lillian Smith Book Award, 2004 A BookSense 76 Spring 2004 Top 10 Poetry Book! Read an excerpt from the book Listen to Frank X Walker reading on NPR's "This I Believe" segment of Morning Edition. This collection of persona poems tells the story of the infamous Lewis & Clark expedition from the point of view of Clark's personal slave, York. The poems form a narrative of York's inner and outer journey, before, during and after the expedition--a journey from slavery to freedom, from the plantation to the great northwest, from servant to soul yearning to be free. Over the course of the saga and through the poems, we are treated to subtle and overt commentaries on literacy, slavery, native Americans, buffalo, the environment, and more. Though Buffalo Dance purposely references historic accounts and facts, it is fictionalized poetry, and Frank X Walker's rare blend of history and art breathes life into an important but overlooked historical figure. Frank X Walker is the author of Affrilachia and the soon to be released Black Box , two collections of poetry. He teaches in the department of English & Theatre and is the interim Director of the African/African American Studies Program at Eastern Kentucky University. He is also a visiting professor in Pan African Studies department at the University of Louisville. A 2004 recipient of the Lillian Smith Book Award, he lives in Lexington, KY. Click here for Frank Walker's website.


The greenhouse orthezia (Orthezia insignis) is a serious and widespread pest of cultivated lantanas (Lantana sp.) in warmer regions of the world. Forty species and cultivars of lantanas were screened for their relative susceptibility to this insect pest. Results showed that two Florida native lantanas, pineland lantana (L. depressa) and buttonsage (L. involucrata), were highly susceptible to infestation, with trailing lantana (L. montevidensis) and its cultivars and hybrids being somewhat less susceptible. Shrub lantana (L. camara) and its cultivars and hybrids were the least susceptible to greenhouse orthezia infestation, but some of these varieties are rather unattractive as landscape ornamentals and can become serious weeds.


In this work a new prodrug polymer was prepared with two attachment groups (amid-ester), using di functional spacer such as ethanol amine, which could react with polyacrylic acid producing amide group, with remain ethanol terminal group which could react with captopril acyl chloride, producing ester group with extended the arm substituted drug to improve the hydrolysis and to prevent the steric effect of polymer chains. Many advantages enhanced the prodrug of polymer. The prepared polymers were characterized by FTIR, 1H –NMR spectroscopies. Controlled drug release was studied in different pH values at 37°C, using UV. Spectra with comparing with calibration curve. The modification percentage test was studied, and swelling percentage was calculated and all physical properties were observed.


Judging by the millions of reviews left by guests on the Airbnb platform, this trusted community marketplace for accommodations is fulfilling its mission of matching travelers with hosts having room to spare remarkably well. Based on our analysis of ratings we collected for millions of properties listed on Airbnb worldwide, we find that nearly 95% of Airbnb properties boast an average star-rating of either 4.5 or 5 stars (the maximum); virtually none have less than a 3.5 star-rating. We contrast this with the ratings of roughly 700,000 hotels, B&Bs, and vacation rentals worldwide that we collected from TripAdvisor. We find that hotel and B&B average ratings are much lower—3.8 and 4.1 stars, respectively—with much more variance across reviews. TripAdvisor vacation rental ratings are more similar to Airbnb ratings, but only about 85% of properties have an average rating of 4.5 or 5 stars. We then consider properties cross-listed on both platforms. For these properties, we find that even though the average ratings on Airbnb and TripAdvisor are more similar than hotels and B&Bs, proportionally more properties receive the highest ratings (4.5 stars and above) on Airbnb than on TripAdvisor. Moreover, there is only a weak correlation in the ratings of individual cross-listed properties across the two platforms. Finally, we show that these differences are consistent when considering data from two different time periods: 2015 and 2018.


A variety of crops are grown in New York City community gardens. Although the production of many crops benefits from pollination by bees, little is known about bee abundance in urban community gardens or which crops are specifically dependent on bee pollination. In 2005, we compiled a list of crop plants grown within 19 community gardens in New York City and classified these plants according to their dependence on bee pollination. In addition, using mark-recapture methods, we estimated the abundance of a potentially important pollinator within New York City urban gardens, the common eastern bumble bee (Bombus impatiens). This species is currently recognized as a valuable commercial pollinator of greenhouse crops. However, wild populations of B. impatiens are abundant throughout its range, including in New York City community gardens, where it is the most abundant native bee species present and where it has been observed visiting a variety of crop flowers. We conservatively counted 25 species of crop plants in 19 surveyed gardens. The literature suggests that 92% of these crops are dependent, to some degree, on bee pollination in order to set fruit or seed. Bombus impatiens workers were observed visiting flowers of 78% of these pollination-dependent crops. Estimates of the number of B. impatiens workers visiting individual gardens during the study period ranged from 3 to 15 bees per 100 m of total garden area and 6 to 29 bees per 100 m of garden floral area. Of 229 B. impatiens workers marked, all recaptured individuals (45%) were found in gardens where they were initially marked. These results indicate an abundance of B. impatiens workers within New York City community gardens and suggest that, at least for certain time periods, many individual workers forage within single gardens. Both findings suggest that B. impatiens may be an especially important pollinator of several common crops grown within community gardens and other urban green spaces that are used for agricultural production. Studies of other pollinating insect species in urban habitats as well as the relationship between pollen movement and seed or fruit set will complement the findings of this study.


IN late 2003, one of Steve's largest projects was going to end in a month. His company, MAYA Viz, was small and a major project ending without followup work would put a strain on the whole organization. Prior to that time, Steve and his team at MAYA Viz had spent five years, on their own and in the DARPA Command Post of the Future (CPOF) program, building a research prototype of a distributedworkspace calledCoMotion. This prototype enabled people to share information, understand each other's views, and establish a common ground. One month before CPOF's scheduled end, the teamdemonstrated a prototype to several senior US Army commanders in a series of wargaming exercises. The results were astounding—the prototype demonstrated a huge decrease in the time users spent on gathering data, freeing time to do analysis, decision-making, and sharing information throughout the team. One of the commanders saw a technology that could help transform how he commanded his organization. He successfully argued to the army leadership that they should fund an experiment where the CPOF softwarewould be fielded to his new command, scheduled for deployment to Baghdad in early 2004. Steve and his small team now had a tight budget and only five months to transform their laboratory prototype to a functional product that could work with real users on tactical military networks. It was a stressful time. They had to transform not only themselves—not a trivial task—but also refocus the company from research and development to building production-quality software. The stakes were high—mistakes could cost soldiers' lives. Finally, with the support of the team of CPOF companies, they did it. The system is being used 24/7 by a number of large military units in combat. Moreover, this digital workspace system is revolutionizing military command and control. Now, soldiers in different locations can collaborate simultaneously without the risk of traveling through dangerous environments in order to be physically together. All of Steve's achievements were the result of his fundamental belief in the unique value of people in the decision-making process. To him, computers existed to empower human decision-making, rather than replace it. Steve, a dreamer and visionary, started his career as a graduate student in cognitive psychology. Upon graduating, he continued to research the use of computers in the learning process. He then moved to the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). His project System for Automated Graphics and Explanation (SAGE), developed at CMU, allowed complex data to be represented visually in such a way that humans could better see, use, and manipulate it. SAGE was later commissioned by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to help the military better manage their logistical operations on the battlefield. Convinced that their software and methods could drastically change the way humans interact with computers, Steve and his colleague, Jake Kolojejchick, launched MAYA Viz to "change the world, have fun doing it, and make money (in that order)." The alignment of the stars that brought the CPOF concept into reality was never lost on Steve and Jake. The path from laboratory exercise of a research prototype to the adoption by the army was a treacherous one. Only by having firsthand perspective on problems and opportunities would they be able to keep from making a critical misstep that might keep the software from being adopted. Both Steve and Jake went to Iraq to support the fielding of the software, understand how it was being used, and to expand the users' concepts of what they could do with the system. Steve cherished diversity and the gestalt that came from many different points of view. He enjoyed sharing his vision and giving his team the freedom to expand it from their own perspective. That a varied crew of designers, engineers (even a PhD in rhetoric) who had joined a research company volunteered to go into a war zone to ensure the successful fielding of the system they created was a constant amazement to him. Steve instant messaged the the team at all hours of the day and night trying to short-circuit misunderstandings and draw attention to potential problems—all to facilitate the delicate transition from research to deployment. Steve believed that the potential applications of the CoMotion technology were in no way limited to the military. His vision was that future customers would primarily be from the private sector. But, despite his success in fielding a working application, Steve dreamed that one day he would go back to research. He relished the challenge of the design problem. He relentlessly pursued architectural purity and user interface consistency, always with a loving disregard for the practical difficulties of implementing the ideal on time and under budget. He refused to accept that it could not be done. He knew that IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON VISUALIZATION AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS, VOL. 11, NO. 6, NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2006 609


This title discusses about the grandfather of the moving image. English photographer Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was a pioneer in visual studies of human and animal locomotion. In 1872, he famously helped settle a bet for former California governor Leland Stanford by providing photographic proof that when galloping, a horse momentarily lifts all of its legs off of the ground. Muybridge accomplished this feat by inventing a complex system of shutter releases that allowed him to capture freeze frames of the horse's gallop - proving conclusively, for the first time, that the horse does indeed lift all of its hooves in the air for a fraction of a second. For the next three decades, Muybridge continued his quest to fully catalog many an aspect of human and animal movement, shooting hundreds of nude or draped subjects engaged in various activities such as running, walking, boxing, fencing, and descending a staircase (the latter study inspired Marcel Duchamp's famous 1912 painting). This resplendent book traces the life and work of Muybridge, from his early thinking about anatomy and movement to his latest photographic experiments, and is copiously illustrated with his complete locomotion plates as well as biographical pictures and texts. The work of this icon of 19th century photography, still very relevant today, is most deserving of this long overdue XL tome that will delight art and photography fans as well as horse lovers.


JON CARLSON, Psy.D., ED.D. AND LEN SPE.RRY, M.D., PH.D., EDS.: The Disordered Couple. Brunner/Mazel, New York, 1998, 342 pp., $38.95, ISBN 0-87630815-9. The original contribution of this book is that it focuses on couples where one or both partners has a diagnosable Axis 1 or Axis 2 DSM IV disorder. The sixteen chapters in this book mostly follow a standard format. They begin with a theoretical background reminding us of the diagnostic criteria for the condition(s) being discussed in the chapter. Then, there is a review of the psychological factors that may have brought these two people together, the marriages they make, and the problems that emerge. An approach to treatment is presented, and most chapters conclude with a case illustration. In situations where one partner has a prominent Axis 1 disorder, even though both partners are seen as a couple, the emphasis seems to be on helping and supporting that person who is usually clearly identified as "the patient." But where one or both partners have an Axis 2 personality disorder, there is less emphasis on the diagnosis of one or both individuals. Instead, more prominence is given to the personality characteristics and deficiencies that led to them becoming a couple in the first place, understanding how their problems arose during the marriage, and helping repair some of the deficiencies so that life can become more livable for them. The quality of the chapters varies considerably. In "Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia," Carter and Schultz offer a cognitivebehavioral (CBT) approach that appears very superficial and never seems to get to grips with the real issues. They tell us about a young man who first experienced a major anxiety attack while smoking marijuana, just after finding out that his parents had separated. Although the history indicates a recurrent theme of anxiety attacks that occur at times of incidents that resemble a maternal abandonment, the authors appear to have made no effort to help the patient make that important connection. Freeman and Oster outline a more detailed CBT treatment in their chapter on relationships. Though there are a number of useful clinical insights, there are also some techniques that may be unhelpful, manipulative, or demeaning. In an unusual chapter, Dimitroff and Hoekstra remind therapists that the religious values and practices of patients must be respected. But they make a statement at the end of their chapter that may stir up again those concerns that had been voiced in the past about therapists imposing their own religious or antireligious ideologies on their patients. Harman, Waldo and Johnson emphasize that in helping couples with sexual problems communication appears to be the key element. It is surprising that 30 years after Kohut the self-psychologists still seem to have the need to explain the whole theoretical basis of self-psychology. …


Background There has been ongoing controversy as to whether prosthesis–patient mismatch (PPM, defined as indexed effective orifice area (EOAI) <0.85 m2/cm2) influences mortality after aortic valve replacement (AVR). In most studies, PPM is anticipated by reference tables based on mean EOAs as opposed to individual assessment. These reference values may not reflect the actual in vivo EOAI and hence, the presence or absence of PPM may be based on false assumptions. Objective To assess the impact of small prosthesis EOA on survival after aortic valve replacement AVR. Methods 645 patients had undergone an AVR between 2000 and 2007 entered the study. All patients underwent transthoracic echocardiography for determination of the actual EOAI within 6 months postoperatively. In order to predict time from surgery to death a proportional hazards model for competing risks (cardiac death vs death from other causes) was used. EOAI was entered as a continuous variable. Results PPM occurred in 40% of the patients. After a median follow-up of 2.35 years, 92.1% of the patients were alive. The final Cox regression model showed a significantly increased risk for cardiac death among patients with a smaller EOAI (HR=0.32, p=0.022). The effect of EOAI on the 2–5 year mortality risk was demonstrated by risk plots. Conclusions In contrast to previous studies these EOAI values were obtained through postoperative echocardiography, substantially improving the accuracy of measurement, and the EOAI was modelled as a continuous variable. There was a significantly improved survival for larger EOAIs following AVR. Strategies to avoid PPM should become paramount during AVR.


This article begins to construct a theory of participation in architecture, urban design and urban planning as a range of practices undertaken across a landscape of economies that largely exists outside of the capitalist economy. These practices themselves overlap in terms of their material forms, bodily and mental activities with the practices undertaken by labour employed to produce the built environment within the capitalist marketplace.

With respect to participation, our aim in articulating practices is to move away from a discussion of levels of participation and legitimacy within individual projects and towards an understanding of the organising, productive and reproductive work that is done in participating in the production of the built environment as part of an ongoing process of social change. They proliferate through multiple instances of performance and those who undertake them act as carriers of these practices, including forms of knowhow, understanding, motivational and emotional knowledge, creating resources through these acts of performance.

The article contends that participatory practices are liable to be exploited re-presented or co-opted as commodified resources and this fragility limits the socially transformative potential of participation. Drawing on J.K Gibson-Graham's conception of 'diverse economies', an alternative representation is developed to recognize the landscape of practices constructing alternative economic systems, and exploring means and methods of resistance to co-option or enclosure.


Motivation focuses on the future, and provides direction, intensity, and continuity for the behaviour of organisational members, thus playing a significant role in human resource management. Moreover, the efficiency and performance of civil servants directly affect the quality of government public services. Particularly in the current anti-corruption environment, the behaviours of civil servants are under the strict supervision, and the welfare and privileges are increasingly standardised, which inevitably affect their work motivation and satisfaction. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the current civil servant motivation mechanism to facilitate work engagement of employees and the administration efficiency of the government. In this case, this dissertation mainly investigates the current situation of Chinese public servants' motivation mechanism through questionnaires, analyses the drawbacks of various motivators, and proposes corresponding suggestions for the improvement of public servants motivation system in the new period.


Many nuclear power plants use instrument and control systems based on analog electronics. The state of the art in process control and instrumentation has advanced to use digital electronics and incorporate advanced technology. This technology includes distributed microprocessors, fiber optics, intelligent systems (neural networks), and advanced displays. The technology is used to optimize processes and enhance the man-machine interface while maintaining control and safety of the processes. Nuclear power plant operators have been hesitant to install this technology because of the cost and uncertainty in the regulatory process. This technology can be directly applied in an operating nuclear power plant provided a surety principle-based {open_quotes}administrator{close_quotes} hardware system is included in parallel with the upgrade Sandia National Laboratories has developed a rigorous approach to High Consequence System Surety (HCSS). This approach addresses the key issues of safety, security, and control while satisfying requirements for reliability and quality. HCSS principles can be applied to nuclear power plants in a manner that allows the off-the-shelf use of process control instrumentation while maintaining a high level of safety and enhancing the plant performance. We propose that an HCSS administrator be constructed as a standardized approach to address regulatory issues. Such an administrator would allow a plant control system to be constructed with commercially available, state-of-the-art equipment and be customized to the needs of the individual plant operator.


BACKGROUND--Circulating immune complexes can be elevated in serum samples of patients with sarcoidosis and are associated with disease activity, but their diagnostic significance is not understood. METHODS--The different classes of circulating immune complexes containing immunoglobulin A, G, or M, and the content of complement in circulating immune complexes (polyethylene glycol precipitation) as well as levels of complement binding circulating immune complexes (complement binding assay) were determined in 19 patients with active, untreated pulmonary sarcoidosis. The results were compared with other parameters in the serum (soluble interleukin 2 receptor, angiotensin converting enzyme, immunoglobulin A, G, and M) and the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (lymphocytes, helper cells, suppressor cells, activated T cells), and with radiological stage and functional parameters (FEV1, vital capacity, total lung capacity, transfer coefficient (KCO), and the alveolar-arterial oxygen difference during exercise). RESULTS--In all patients circulating immune complexes could be detected by polyethylene glycol precipitation and were similar to control subjects. The content of C1q in circulating immune complexes was higher than in controls, yet in all but one of the cases was still within normal limits. In contrast, elevated levels of complement binding circulating immune complexes were found in 67% of the patients. No correlation was seen between circulating immune complexes and any of the other parameters in the serum, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid, or lung function values. No differences were found between radiological type I and II presentations of sarcoidosis. CONCLUSIONS--The complement binding assay showed a much higher sensitivity for the detection of circulating immune complexes in active pulmonary sarcoidosis than the polyethylene glycol precipitation method. As there was no correlation between levels of circulating immune complexes and other parameters of the disease they are probably not useful for the assessment of disease activity.


If sports have become a new religion, then sporting equipment has become an object of devotion. Our cultural fascination with the icons of sports— from Michael Jordan to Rollerblades— and the technology of designs that push us to ever-higher levels of performance are the subject of this intriguing book."Design for Sports" examines both the equipment, showing how sports are changing as a result of advancements in design and materials, as well as the cultural implications of sports design through an investigation of advertising and popular culture.Sports equipment has undergone radical changes in recent years, as technology has reshaped the way sports are played. New designs such as oversized tennis rackets, parabolic skis, titanium bats, and reconfigured golf clubs have altered the very nature of their respective sports, setting new standards of technical performance. Indeed, some professional sports organizations have banned certain kinds of equipment because they fear it could transform the nature of their games."Design for Sports" covers a range of cultural issues: how development of sports technology has heightened the visibility of and participation in women's sports; sports subcultures, revealed through the graphics of athletic footwear; and how sports equipment allows for a new relationship with the natural world, as it replicates outdoor conditions inside the gym.The contributors include sports journalist Candace Lyle Hogan; Steven Skov Holt, former editor at "I.D. Magazine" and currently director of strategy at the firm frogdesign; and world-class swimmer, sports announcer, and National Public Radio columnist Diana Nyad.


The abundance of both heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNAN) and bacterioplankton in a large (9km2) ultraoligotrophic Antarctic lake (Crooked Lake) were investigated from December 1992 until November 1993. HNAN abundance peaked in spring, summer and autumn, falling to lowest numbers during the winter. Numbers ranged between 0 and 50.9×104 l−1. Bacterioplankton abundance was highest during the late summer and then fell progressively towards winter and autumn (range 1.19–4.46×106 l−1) In contrast to numbers, mean cell volumes (MCV) of the bacteria reached their highest in spring, and consequently highest bacterial biomass occurred at this time. MCV ranged between 0.052 and 0.224μm3. Bacterial production measurements following the incorporation of [3H] thymidine into DNA and [14C] leucine into protein using a doubling-labelling procedure were undertaken in January, June, August, October and November. Rates varied between 2.8 and 52 ng C l1 h1. On occasions, a significant difference in production rates based on the uptake of leucine and thymidine was observed, suggesting unbalanced growth. Highest rates of production coincided with times of high dissolved organic carbon levels in the water column and lowest production with low levels of DOC. HNAN grazing rates were measured by following the uptake of fluorescently labelled bacteria and averaged 4.8 bacterial cells individual1 day1 at 2 and 4°C. Specific growth rates (h1) ranged around 0.00070–0.00077 in both the field and laboratory, giving doubling times of 37.3 and 41.0 days, respectively. These low rates of grazing and growth indicate that there is no adaptation to low temperatures in these freshwater protists. Based on these data, the gross production efficiency is 24%. HNAN removed between 0.1 and 9.7% of bacterial production per day.


Considerable evidence has shown that migrants use ICT to maintain connections to their families and home. Unlike most previous researchers of migrant ICT use, we study those left behind. Using a nationally representative sample in which two thirds of respondent households have a migrant, we determine the effect of this on ICT use. Multivariate analyses including relevant demographic factors that influence both migration and ICT use reveal that transnational (migrant) family status influences frequency of Internet use, Internet ownership, and Skype use, but not other activities. Given the positive social effects of maintaining family connections, ICT use may lessen the negative effects of migration on families and society.


The organic matter in the forest ecosystem that contributes to the organic horizon of soil profile decomposes to CO2. The DOC (dissolved organic carbon) leached to the mineral soil horizons could be decomposed, leached or adsorbed onto mineral surfaces. The effect of soil properties on the DOC dynamic has not been fully understood because of limited data. The objective of this research was to characterize the DOC in Bukit Duabelas National Park and reveal the effect of soil profile position in toposequence and soil properties to the DOC. Six soil profiles were made with different positions in toposequence (two soil profiles on each upper, middle, and lower slope). Lysimeters were installed horizontally (in AO, AB and B horizons and in each soil profile) and connected to a bottle collector that placed on the bottom of the soil profile. The soil samples were collected from each of the soil profiles, at the beginning of the research, while soil solutions were collected periodically. The results showed that the independent sample t-test revealed that fluxes of DOC of soil profile on the lower slope were different from that of soil profiles on the upper and middle slopes. The concentration, amount, and fluxes of DOC in soil profile on the lower slope were higher than those of soil profiles on the upper and the middle slopes. The independent sample t-test also revealed that fluxes of DOC of AO horizons were different from those of AB and B horizons.  The concentration, amount, and fluxes of DOC of AO horizon were higher than those of AB and B horizons.   The result of Pearson correlation showed positive correlations between DOC fluxes with organic-C, total-N, and Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC), but negative correlation with soil bulk density, pH, and Fe dithionite-citrate-bicarbonate (Fed) content. The results suggested that soil profile on the lower slopes on toposequence had a higher amount of DOC than that on other soil profiles above it. Horizon AO had a higher amount of DOC than that of AB and B horizons. The increase of organic-C, total N and CEC increased DOC. On the other hand the increase of soil bulk density, pH and Fed decreased DOC.
Keywords: DOC, horizon, soil organic matter, toposequence


NDNFS is a file system designed for Named Data Networking (NDN) and supports efficient data access by both local and remote applications. It provides the standard file system interface for local file operations, but stores files internally as NDN Data packets, which can be directly sent out as responses to the incoming Interests, saving the overhead of encoding the packets and generating signatures on the fly. A metadata protocol is also designed to assist remote access to NDNFS by communicating directory contents and file metadata explicitly with data consumers. By providing consistent data naming and organizing across different layers, NDNFS implements storage, transmission and security protection functionalities with a single data unit: the NDN Data packet.


A recently developed anatomical model describes how the intensity of reward-seeking and misery-fleeing behaviours is regulated. The first type of behaviours is regulated within an extrapyramidal cortical-subcortical circuit containing as first relay stations, the caudate nucleus, putamen and core of the accumbens nucleus. The second type of behaviours is controlled by a limbic cortical-subcortical circuit with as first stations, the centromedial amygdala, extended amygdala, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and shell of the accumbens nucleus. We hypothesize that sudden cessation of hyperactivity of the first circuit results in feelings of pleasure and of the second circuit in feelings of happiness. The insular cortex has probably an essential role in the perception of these and other emotions. Motivation to show these behaviours is regulated by monoaminergic neurons projecting to the accumbens from the midbrain: dopaminergic ventral tegmental nuclei, adrenergic locus coeruleus and serotonergic upper raphe nuclei. The activity of these monoaminergic nuclei is in turn regulated through a ventral pathway by the prefrontal cortex and through a dorsal pathway by the medial and lateral habenula. The habenula has this role since the first vertebrate human ancestors with a brain comparable to that of modern lampreys. The lateral habenula promotes or inhibits reward-seeking behaviours depending upon the gained reward being larger or smaller than expected. It is suggested that the ventral pathway is essential for maintaining addiction based on the observation of specific cues, while the dorsal pathway is essential for becoming addicted and relapsing during periods of abstinence.


From the Publisher:
Your guide to authentication, authorization, and secure communication.

Building secure distributed Web applications can be challenging. It usually involves integrating several different technologies and products?yet your complete application will only be as secure as its weakest link. This guide presents a practical, scenario-driven approach to designing and building security-enhanced ASP.NET applications for Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and version 1.1 of the Microsoft .NET Framework. It focuses on the key elements of authentication, authorization, and secure communication within and across the tiers of distributed .NET Web applications.

This guide focuses on:
? Authentication?to identify the clients of your application
? Authorization?to provide access controls for those clients
? Secure communication?to help ensure that messages remain private and are not altered by unauthorized parties

Who should read this guide:
Middleware developers and architects who build or plan to build .NET Web applications using ASP.NET, XML Web Services, Enterprise Services (COM+), .NET Remoting, or Microsoft ADO.NET

About ?Patterns and Practices?:
Patterns & Practices contain specific recommendations illustrating how to design, build, deploy, and operate architecturally sound solutions to challenging business and technical scenarios. The technical guidance is reviewed and approved by Microsoft engineering teams, consultants, and Product Support Services, and by partners and customers.

Note: Includes complete sample on the Web.


This is a report of some of my activities carried out during the summers of 1974 through 1976 in Grand Teton National Park, which were associated with field work in the gathering of materials for a book on the ecology and behavior of sandhill cranes and trumpeter swans in the park. Only one month (May 22 to June 22) was spent in the park during 1976, and thus no data on swan productivity were obtained in that year. Data on the park's swan production for the years prior to 1974 were obtained from the card files of the National Park Service and have been organized in such a way as to make them comparable to similar data by J. Halladay from Yellowstone National Park (Proceedings of the Third Trumpeter Swan Society Conference, 1973), and published data from Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (North American Fauna No. 63, 1960) and from Alaska (Wildlife Monographs (No. 26, 1971), and R. Page's unpublished data from Red Rock Lakes (Ph. D. dissertation, University of Montana, 1974).


ABSTRACT Although exact causes of Parkinson disease (PD) remain enigmatic, mitochondrial dysfunction is increasingly appreciated as a key determinant of dopaminergic neuron susceptibility in both familial and sporadic PD. Two genes associated with recessive, early-onset PD encode the ubiquitin (Ub) kinase PINK1 and the E3 Ub ligase PRKN/PARK2/Parkin, which together orchestrate a protective mitochondrial quality control (mitoQC) pathway. Upon stress, both enzymes cooperatively identify and decorate damaged mitochondria with phosphorylated poly-Ub (p-S65-Ub) chains. This specific label is subsequently recognized by autophagy receptors that further facilitate mitochondrial degradation in lysosomes (mitophagy). Here, we analyzed human post-mortem brain specimens and identified distinct pools of p-S65-Ub-positive structures that partially colocalized with markers of mitochondria, autophagy, lysosomes and/or granulovacuolar degeneration bodies. We further quantified levels and distribution of the 'mitophagy tag' in 2 large cohorts of brain samples from normal aging and Lewy body disease (LBD) cases using unbiased digital pathology. Somatic p-S65-Ub structures independently increased with age and disease in distinct brain regions and enhanced levels in LBD brain were age- and Braak tangle stage-dependent. Additionally, we observed significant correlations of p-S65-Ub with LBs and neurofibrillary tangle levels in disease. The degree of co-existing p-S65-Ub signals and pathological PD hallmarks increased in the pre-mature stage, but decreased in the late stage of LB or tangle aggregation. Altogether, our study provides further evidence for a potential pathogenic overlap among different forms of PD and suggests that p-S65-Ub can serve as a biomarker for mitochondrial damage in aging and disease. Abbreviations: BLBD: brainstem predominant Lewy body disease; CCCP: carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone; DLB: dementia with Lewy bodies; DLBD: diffuse neocortical Lewy body disease; EOPD: early-onset Parkinson disease; GVB: granulovacuolar degeneration body; LB: Lewy body; LBD: Lewy body disease; mitoQC: mitochondrial quality control; nbM: nucleus basalis of Meynert; PD: Parkinson disease; PDD: Parkinson disease with dementia; p-S65-Ub: PINK1-phosphorylated serine 65 ubiquitin; SN: substantia nigra; TLBD: transitional Lewy body disease; Ub: ubiquitin


It is still a major challenge to understand the data of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) that arrive from the outer heliosphere. These data are provided by the IBEX mission. With the most recent data covering three years of dynamical evolution, it is now possible to study temporal correlations with the solar cycle. We present in this paper for the first time an extended study dedicated to the transit-time delay between the plasma that is ejected from the Sun towards the outer heliosphere and the ENA fluxes that reach the detector after the solar wind protons undergo charge exchange processes in their distant production regions in the inner heliosheath. We derive transit-time delays caused by both general and non-trivial model-dependent contributions for arbitrary points in the inner heliosheath. In addition, we also calculate the average transit-time delay along the line-of-sight in selected directions, allowing to estimate how strongly an extended emission region can reduce the resolution that is possible with transit-time studies. We are able to demonstrate that ENAs generated beyond a certain characteristic streamline distance are mostly removed by charge exchange, and thus do not contribute significantly to the keV-ENA fluxes observed by IBEX. For this reason, transit-time delays do provide a viable tool for studying the impact of the solar cycle on ENA fluxes.


The Library of Alexandria was one of the greatest cultural adornments of the late ancient world, containing thousands of scrolls of Greek, Hebrew and Mesopotamian literature and art and artefacts of ancient Egypt. This book demonstrates that Alexandria became - through the contemporary reputation of its library - a point of confluence for Greek, Roman, Jewish and Syrian culture that drew scholars and statesmen from throughout the ancient world. It also explores the histories of Alexander the Great and of Alexandria itself, the greatest city of the ancient world. This new paperback edition offers general readers an accessible introduction to the history of this magnificent yet still mysterious institution from the time of its foundation up to its tragic destruction.


Many protocols need a discovery mechanism to enable a given node to locate one or several nodes involved in the same communication. However, there is no protocol ready to fulfill this service at the network-layer. Every protocol usually implements its own solution. In particular, multicast protocols often use a searching technique based on an algorithm called expanding ring search. This algorithm searches for nodes in all directions and thus uses much bandwidth. However a typical search can usually restrict its scan in a specific direction. To enable this broadcast restriction, we propose an oriented multicast routing algorithm. The algorithm's principle is to direct the multicast of packets towards a special node, involved in the communication, in order to search only in a limited area. The area must be as small as possible to reduce network flooding but still has to contain many nodes satisfying the search criteria. This new algorithm is the core part of a network-level node search framework also defined herein. A search protocol based on this framework could provide a network-level agent discovery service to current protocols. We have simulated an agent search with our algorithm on one side and with the expanding ring algorithm on the other side and we give comparative results.


Intrinsic stresses of carbon films deposited by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering were investigated. The bombardments of energetic particles during the growth of films were considered to be the main reason for compressive intrinsic stresses. The values of intrinsic stresses were determined by measuring the radius of curvature of substrates before and after film deposition. By varying argon pressure and target-substrate distance, energies of neutral carbon atoms impinging on the growing films were optimized to control the intrinsic stresses level. The stress evolution in carbon films as a function of film thickness was investigated and a void-related stress relief mechanism was proposed to interpret this evolution.


In this paper, we present a semi-automatic approach for mining a large-scale dataset of IDE interactions to extract usage smells, i.e., inefficient IDE usage patterns exhibited by developers in the field. The approach outlined in this paper first mines frequent IDE usage patterns, filtered via a set of thresholds and by the authors, that are subsequently supported (or disputed) using a developer survey, in order to form usage smells. In contrast with conventional mining of IDE usage data, our approach identifies time-ordered sequences of developer actions that are exhibited by many developers in the field. This pattern mining workflow is resilient to the ample noise present in IDE datasets due to the mix of actions and events that these datasets typically contain. We identify usage patterns and smells that contribute to the understanding of the usability of Visual Studio for debugging, code search, and active file navigation, and, more broadly, to the understanding of developer behavior during these software development activities. Among our findings is the discovery that developers are reluctant to use conditional breakpoints when debugging, due to perceived IDE performance problems as well as due to the lack of error checking in specifying the conditional.