This retrospective assessment argues that despite the arrival in office in 2009 of a president who articulated the case for Palestinian rights more strongly and eloquently than any of his predecessors, U.S. official policy in the Obama years skewed heavily in favor of Israel. While a negotiated two-state resolution of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians continued to be the formal goal of the United States, Israel9s defiant refusal to stop settlement expansion, the administration9s determined actions to perpetuate Israeli impunity in international fora, as well as the U.S. taxpayer9s hefty subsidy of the Israeli military machine all ensured that no progress could be made on that score. The author predicts that with all hopes of a negotiated two-state solution now shattered, Obama9s successor will have to contend with an entirely new paradigm, thanks in no small part to the gathering momentum of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.


Learn how to successfully administer, build, and manage Salesforce CRM and Salesforce mobile solutions using real-world and best practice techniques
About This Book

See the latest best practice Salesforce administration principles, gain real-world advice, and understand critical design considerations to set up and customize Salesforce CRM
This is a pragmatic guide to the key functions of customizing and setting up the application for enterprise security, user and data management, process automation, analytics, and mobile features
Step-by-step navigation and descriptions of the features of Salesforce CRM platform and clear guidance on the customization and administration of the application
Identify what is covered to create your own improved study guide for the certified administrator examination

Who This Book Is For
This book is for administrators who want to develop and strengthen their Salesforce CRM skills in the areas of configuration and system management. Whether you are a new administrator or a more experienced professional, this book will enhance your knowledge and understanding of the features of Salesforce CRM.
What You Will Learn

Manage and administer user records and password policies
Configure and control the various organization-wide user interface features in Salesforce CRM
Set up and maintain users, profiles, and permission sets and administer appropriate security and login access mechanisms
Apply organization security
Understand the capabilities of the Salesforce CRM sharing model
Create, delete, and customize fields, page layout, and list views for custom and standard objects
Find out how Apex and Visualforce coding can be used in Salesforce CRM
Implement the mechanisms for data management
Discover the tools to import, update, transfer, and mass delete data

In Detail
Salesforce CRM's Winter '17 release offers a host of new features for CRM designed to transform your sales and marketing requirements. With this comprehensive guide to implementing Salesforce CRM, administrators of all levels can easily acquire deep knowledge of the platform. The book begins by guiding you through setting up users and the security settings and then progresses to configuration, data management, and data analytics. We swiftly move on to the setting up of organization wide features that affect the look and feel of the application. Process automation and approval mechanisms are covered next, along with the functional areas of Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud, and Salesforce Chatter. This book details Salesforce CRM system administration in a practical way and is an invaluable reference for both new administrators and experienced professionals.
At the end of the book, techniques to further enhance the system and improve the return on investment Salesforce mobile apps and mobile administration are covered, along with Salesforce Adoption Manager. Every chapter is complete with a section containing example questions of the type that you might encounter in the certification examination.
Style and approach
This book takes a straightforward, no-nonsense approach to working with the Salesforce CRM platform. Filled with examples and use cases, the book presents the facts along with seasoned advice and real-world examples to ensure you have all the resources you need to become a more informed Salesforce Administrator.


Background: The potential role of lipoprotein (a) changes and also inflammation in coronary artery disease (CAD) have rendered these processes one of the most interesting objects of study in patients affected by type 2 diabetes mellitus. The aim of the current study was to evaluate lipoprotein (a) and other lipid profiles and also C-reactive protein (CRP) as the predictors of cardiovascular disease severity in non-insulin dependent diabetic subjects in comparison with non-diabetic CAD patients. Methods: Between June and September 2004, 372 patients with CAD were enrolled at Tehran Heart Center. Non-insulin dependent diabetics accounted for 102 of the cases, and the remaining 270 were non-diabetics. The severity of CAD was evaluated using the Gensini score, and the effect of patient variables such as serum lipid concentrations and CRP on CAD severity in the diabetics was investigated and compared with that of the non-diabetics. Results: The mean of the Gensini score, CRP, and serum concentrations of all the lipid profiles were similar between the diabetic and non-diabetic patients. In the diabetic group, a high CRP concentration (β=0.200, Rs= 0.040; P=0.046) was effective on the Gensini score, whereas lipoprotein (a) and lipid profiles did not influence CAD severity. In the non-diabetics, no significant relationships were found between the Gensini score and all the studied laboratory indices. Conclusion: A high CRP level is an important predictor of the severity of CAD in diabetic patients with CAD.


Ecosystem Informatics brings together mathematical and computational tools to address scientific and policy challenges in the ecosystem sciences. These challenges include novel sensors for collecting data, algorithms for automated data cleaning, learning methods for building statistical models from data and for fitting mechanistic models to data, and algorithms for designing optimal policies for biosphere management. This presentation discusses these challenges and then describes recent work on the first two of these--new methods for automated arthropod population counting and linear Gaussian DBNs for automated cleaning of sensor network data.


For the first time in New Zealand, this study investigates the relationship between perceptions of tax evasion as a crime and a comprehensive set of demographic variables in New Zealand. A questionnaire survey was administered to 315 respondents in the Auckland region. This research analyses the association between demographic variables and the perceptions of tax evasion using analysis of variance and analysis of correlation variance techniques, rigorous data analysis techniques that enable reliable inferences to be drawn from the study. The findings reveal that the most significant variables that affect tax evasion are education level, employment status, gender, residential location of the respondent, the audit of an income tax return by the Inland Revenue Department, first language and status as a tax professional. The results suggest that to address tax evasion the Inland Revenue Department should target taxpayers with some (or all) of the following characteristics: a low level of education, male, self-employed, those who have not been audited in the past, those who live in rural urban areas, those whose first language is English and those who are tax professionals.


Soil desiccation, in conjunction with surface infiltration control, is considered at the Hanford Site as a potential technology to limit the flux of technetium and other contaminants in the vadose zone to the groundwater. An intermediate‐scale experiment was conducted to test the response of a series of instruments to desiccation and subsequent rewetting of porous media. The instruments include thermistors, thermocouple psychrometers, dual‐probe heat pulse sensors, heat dissipation units, and humidity probes. The experiment was simulated with the multifluid flow simulator STOMP, using independently obtained hydraulic and thermal porous medium properties. All instrument types used for this experiment were able to indicate when the desiccation front passed a certain location. In most cases the changes were sharp, indicating rapid changes in moisture content, water potential, or humidity. However, a response to the changing conditions was recorded only when the drying front was very close to a sensor. Of the tested instruments, only the heat dissipation unit and humidity probes were able to detect rewetting. The numerical simulation results reasonably match the experimental data, indicating that the simulator captures the pertinent gas flow and transport processes related to desiccation and rewetting and may be useful in the design and analysis of field tests.


The urban population increases continuously since the industrial revolution, and the residential buildings have the primary responsibility for the total energy demand. There is a need for the analysis of the residential building stock for energy efficiency and sustainable planning. However, energy modeling and simulation in urban scale is expensive in computational complexity and time, due to various building geometries and occupancy types. This research proposes a method to increase the efficiency of the simulation process by reorganizing the building geometries with functional clustering and radiation analysis scaling. In order to accelerate the urban building energy modeling (UBEM) process, the building geometries are modified based on energy simulation standards, then, clustering is determined based on radiation analysis and outside boundary conditions. The candidates are selected according to the selection percentage that has been identified before the process to simulate in building energy software. Three different simulation types are compared to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm with complete model simulations in terms of the error rate of the objectives and the simulation runtime. Author


Tobacco smoking is the inhalation of smoke from burned dried or cured leaves of the tobacco plant, most often in the form of a cigarette. Cigarette smoke contains a toxic collection of more than 4000 chemicals including nicotine, which combined give rise to addictive stimulant and euphoriant properties. According to the World health Organization, about one-third of the world's male population smokes tobacco and cigarette smoking (CS) killed 100 million people worldwide in the 20th century. Therefore, CS is considered a major cause of preventable morbidity and mortality worldwide.1 2 There are three main clinical consequences of prolonged exposure to CS. First, it causes several chronic respiratory ailments, including chronic bronchitis, emphysema and lung fibrosis, and is associated with an increase in respiratory infections.3 Second, it is associated with an increased incidence of a variety of cancers including lung, oral, oesophagus, pancreas and colon.4 And third, CS increases the risk of atherothrombotic clinical events such as myocardial infarction and stroke.5 The risk of death in these patients increases with increasing exposure to cigarette smoke, measured by the number of cigarettes smoked daily, the duration of smoking, the degree of inhalation and the age of initiation. In addition, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in non-smokers is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events and asthma.6 7 There is convincing evidence that smoking cessation has beneficial effects, even after a cardiovascular event.5–8 In the last decade, health authorities have made a considerable effort to promote smoking cessation. Although the prevalence of smoking has declined over the last few decades in developed countries, it is rapidly increasing in developing countries, with an emerging epidemic of tobacco-related diseases.9

Hepatologists have traditionally paid scant attention to the deleterious effects of CS.10 This reflects the fact that …


Despite the approval of the anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) cetuximab and panitumumab for the treatment of colorectal cancer patients, there is currently no reliable predictive marker for response to therapy. EGFR is the prototype of human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) family, which includes three additional members namely HER-2, HER-3 and HER-4. The aim of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of a panel of human colorectal cancer cell lines to treatment with afatinib, an irreversible pan-HER blocker, the EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKls) gefitinib and erlotinib, anti-EGFR mAb ICR62 and cytotoxic drugs and to determine whether there was any association between the expression levels of HER family members, the putative cancer stem cell (CSC) markers CD44 and CD133 and ABC transporters (e.g. p-glycoprotein) and response to these agents. The expression pattern and clinical significance of these markers in tumour specimens from 86 Dukes' C and D colorectal cancer patients was determined.
Overexpression of the HER family members were found to be uncommon in this panel of human colorectal cancer cell lines, except for EGFR overexpression in DiFi cells. Of the HER inhibitors, afatinib was the most effective agent for inhibiting the growth in vitro of human colorectal cancer cell lines and the expression of HER -4 alone and the co-expression of all the HER family members were associated with response to treatment with afatinib. Acquired resistance of the EGFR overexpressing colorectal cancer cells to treatment with afatinib, ICR62 or gefitinib was accompanied by the up-regulation of EGFR. However, tumour cells that acquired resistance to anti-EGFR mAb ICR62 remained sensitive to treatment with afatinib and vice versa, suggesting that mechanisms underlying the antitumor activity of ICR62 and afatinib are different. The expression ofEGFR, HER-2, HER-3, HER-4 and co-expression of all the HER family members was found in 42.5%, 77%, 52%, 91 % and 18% of the tumour specimens from 86 Dukes' C and D colorectal cancer patients respectively. While all the patients expressed COX-2 and Ki-67, the expression ofCD44 and CD133 was found in 58.6% and 81.9% of the cases, respectively. The expression of EGFR and low expression of Ki-67 were found to be significantly associated with poor disease free survival. The co-expression of HER family members in colorectal cancer patients provides a rationale for investigating the pattern, prognostic significance and predictive value of the HER family members for response to therapy with anti-EGFR mAbs. Further investigations in vivo on the therapeutic potential of pan-HER blockers, such as afatinib, in colorectal cancer patients whose tumours co-express more than one member of the HER family should also be considered.


The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Model State Water Code Project is very ambitious. The Task Committee (TC) to Establish a Model State Water Code and the Water Laws Committee (WLC) of the Water Resources Planning and Management (WR) Division need your assistance to make it a success. Among the roles that ASCE members and committees can assume are: (1) Scoping - Your input has been requested with respect to what the code should cover. The 1989-90 plans were to focus on water quantity issues and consider water quality only as it relates to quantity, to deal almost exclusively with state law considering federal law only when it bears on what should be included in the code, and to incorporate broad coverage of surface, underground, and atmospheric water law. (2) Policy - While this project is not intended principally as a law reform exercise, policy issues will arise with respect to the substance of provisions adopted. Views will be solicited with respect to policy questions, particularly regarding controversial matters. (3) Writing - Lawyers, academics, and other ASCE members with experience in writing legislative materials are needed. The TC plans to write papers and make presentations from the outset of the project. More help is urgently requested. (4) Reviews - Every water resources professional has a stake in the project. Drafts will be circulated regularly among interested ASCE members and other groups. (5) Workshop - The TC plans to hold a workshop in the summer of 1993 at an ASCE meeting. All interested parties are invited to attend and contribute. (6) Adoptions - The code is not intended as merely an academic exercise. When completed it will be presented to state legislatures for their use in modernizing, harmonizing, and completing their water codes. ASCE members should be involved in this process.


The objective of this study was to evaluate the retentive force of one-piece implant (Nobel Direct; Nobel Biocare, Sweden) -supported overdentures including a telescope system. The regular platform Nobel Direct (4.3 mm dia.) was embedded in a brass patrix frame (10 x 10 x 25 mm) using autopolymerized polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA; Unifast II, GC). Two sizes of O-rings [O1 (2.8 mm dia.) and O2 (3.8 mm dia.), SAN-EI, Japan] and protection caps (PC; Straumann) were placed on the Nobel Direct abutment head. The plastic patterns of the Konus telescope outer crown were fabricated on the Nobel Direct abutment head and cast using the GC autocast system. As a control, the PMMA resin (RE) was made to directly touch the abutment head. The patrix and matrix frames were connected under 2 kg and then mounted on a screw-driven mechanical testing machine (Model UTM II, Toyo Boldwin, Japan). The retentive force (n=5, N) obtained at a crosshead speed of 40 mm⁄min was analyzed by ANOVA⁄Scheffe's test (α=0.05). The larger O-ring had less retentive force than the smaller O-ring. The Konus telescope had a retentive force comparable to that of the smaller O-ring (p>0.05). Although the retentive forces of the Konus telescope tended to increase as the connecting load increased, the force of the O-ring did not vary according to the connecting loads. For the one implant-supported overdentures, not only a medium-sized O-ring and protection cap but also coping and Konus telescopes demonstrated having appropriate retentive force.


This chapter focuses on the central role of information visualization in health analytics. From the early x-rays to 3D volume visualizations rapid progress has been made, but the most exciting growth is now in the area of information visualization which offer interactive environments and analytic processes that help support exploration of EHR data, monitoring, or insight discovery. For example, a health organization might want to investigate patterns of drug prescriptions in patients with asthma, and compare prescribing practices with current guidelines. Temporal patterns are critical to this analysis, and interactive visualizations are beginning to support powerful temporal queries, present rich result summaries, and offer fluid interactions to identify the clinically relevant patterns hidden in the data. Visualization should soon help clinicians identify cohorts of patients who match selection criteria for clinical trials, or need to be brought back to the office. Visualization can also reveal data quality problems, which are common when repurposing clinical data for secondary analysis. After a quick summary of the state-of-the-art of information visualization systems for exploring and querying EHR data, we describe in detail one recent system (EventFlow) developed by the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Maryland, and illustrate its use with an asthma prescription study example.


The loss of woodland in Mozambique is more than an environmental issue. Choices about land use — whether made locally, provincially or nationally — affect the availability of water, firewood, fertile land and other 'ecosystem services' delivered by woodlands. When these services underpin food security and routes out of poverty, what happens to woodlands becomes as much about people. But if the links between land use and the wellbeing of rural communities aren't recognised and agreed, how can policymakers balance the dual needs of human development and environmental stewardship? The ACES project brought local, provincial and national stakeholders together to identify how woodlands contribute to wellbeing, discuss why ecosystem services are changing, and look forward to future land use. We discuss the areas of agreement and difference that point to some necessary next steps.


Title of Document: MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN ADULT MAMMALIAN SENSORY CORTEX Haiyan He, Doctor of Philosophy, 2007 Directed By: Dr. Elizabeth M Quinlan Department of Biology Experience-dependent changes in synaptic composition and function (synaptic plasticity) underlie many brain functions including learning and memory, formation of sensory maps, as well as the capability to recover from injury. Most of these functions decline with age, supporting the observation that synaptic plasticity is greater in juveniles than in adults. However, it has been known for some time that peripheral deafferentation in adult animals can induce large-scale reorganization of sensory cortex, which suggests that the adult cortex retains a level of synaptic plasticity that is typically masked by normal activity inputs. Here I present a series of experiments in the adult mammalian sensory cortex that examine the mechanisms and methods to enhance experience-dependent synaptic plasticity. The results showed: 1. Peripheral deafferentation of a single digit in the adult raccoon induces progressive modulation of excitation and inhibition in the deafferented somatosensory cortex that might be needed for the reorganization of receptive fields; 2. Visual deprivation in adult rats reverses three molecular mechanisms that have been correlated with the decrease in synaptic plasticity in adult cortex. These include the developmental increase in the level of inhibition relative to excitation, the development switch in NMDA receptor subunit composition from NR2b to NR2a, and the developmental decrease in tPA activity in visual cortex; 3.Visual deprivation rejuvenates ocular dominance plasticity in the adult visual cortex, and promotes the functional recovery of an eye deprived of vision from birth in adulthood. This work provides further understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying experience-dependent cortical plasticity. In addition, it demonstrates that ocular dominance plasticity can be regulated throughout life, and proposes a non-invasive method to enhance synaptic plasticity in adult cortex. MOLECULAR MECHANISMS OF SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN ADULT MAMMALIAN SENSORY CORTEX


Although much is heard from the Media of the Muslim `community' in Britain, the latter is in fact far from presenting a united front. There are divisions between
generations and ethnic origins, and a diversity of religious practice and doctrine. There are many different religious groups at work that originate from the subcontinent, and reflect this wide range. Organisations like Young Muslims UK, Tabligh-i Jamaat, and schools of thought represented by the Deobandis and Barehvis,
to name but four, play a vital role in the life of many Muslims. They both link them back to their roots in the subcontinent and influence the direction that Islam will take in Britain.

The Muslim population in Britain is approaching two million. It is involved in a process of redefining itself as a minority in an alien culture. For the older generation
the conflict has been cultural, their own ethnicity being under seige from the values of the receiving culture. Islam becomes an important ally of ethnic identity. For many
Muslims born in Britain, however, the process is more complex. Their parents' values can seem as strange, or even stranger, than the values of the receiving culture. For
this increasing percentage of the population, their religion can offer an identity. Stimulated by Islam's global revival and the West's reaction to it, some Muslims are attempting to discover a faith stripped of cultural accretions which are considered to be unlslamic. In the process they hope to find the universal Islam which can be practised in any environment. They feel that this is the key to establishing a successful British Islamic community.
The ideal of ammah has always been central in Islam, but now becomes an important concept in the development of Islam in Britain. There are several questions to
be considered: To what degree does an unmrah exist? What is its form? How is it likely to change? What effect will it have on the development of Muslims seeking a more localised identity in Britain? Within this context, what will be the effect of the various organisations and schools of thought at work amongst Muslims? To what degree will they shape the development of Islam in Britain? Are they free from
'cultural accretion' or are they firmly rooted in idiosyncratic local expressions of the faith? Will Islam in Britain be moderate, or strongly revivalist in nature under their influence? Are they unifying or divisive forces? Can they hope to resolve traditional differences and work together in the new environment of Britain?

In spite of the increasing interest in the Muslim presence in Britain, very few
major works have looked at the influence of these various groups in the context of these questions. I know for myself that I could have used this kind of study when working for my M. A. in Religious Studies, and I know of many students in the same position. I feel that this study will therefore contribute not only to the study of Islam but also to the study of the various minority faiths found in Britain.


The information systems (IS) literature has largely neglected the study of implementations of large scale strategic initiatives to modernize the agricultural business. This paper reports on an ongoing empirical study that follows the efforts of a multibillion-dollar organization to modernize its operations through the modernization of its supplier base. Modernization, as an external force effecting organizations, is a new and different phenomenon respect to organizational change normally considered as an internal effort. Modernization is an ongoing, evolutionary, process performed by organizations in order to survive and prosper. Yet, the rationality of the decision to modernize is likely to face the forces of entrenched traditions and practices, the feelings and the social significance of established ways of those with the power to derail the modernization project. Using institutional theory as theoretical lens to study the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in modernization strategy, the paper suggests that managers should care beyond the reasons for change, considering the physical, social and cultural needs of the stakeholders involved. Our study extends the extant literature on agribusiness management highlighting the tensions between the initiator of the modernization effort and the suppliers with their need to adapt and respond.


Obesity is an increasing epidemic which during 2015-2016 afflicted 39.8% of adults and 18.5% of youth in the United States. Not only can obesity affect quality of life, but it can lead to life-threatening diseases such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers. Animal and human research have demonstrated a pattern of gut microbiota perturbation in overweight and obesity, characterized by a reduction of beneficial bacterial species and increase in harmful species. Diet has been established as a contributing factor in gut ecology, and foods including fiber, resistant starch, and polyphenols have been found to both enhance desirable species and inhibit pathogens. Short chain fatty acids (SCFA), the products of microbial fermentation of carbohydrates, have also been implicated in body weight maintenance. Sorghum is the world's fifth leading crop and highly undervalued in the US as a source of nutrition. The diversity and abundance of polyphenols in sorghum bran has been identified, however limited information is available on the effects of sorghum polyphenols on gut microbiota. We hypothesized that polyphenolic extracts of black and sumac sorghum brans would impact production of SCFA, alter composition of human fecal microbiota in favor of beneficial species, and improve the overall microbiota profile of overweight/obese individuals. The objectives of this study were to determine the contents of polyphenolic compounds in sorghum bran and to evaluate the change of gut microbiota composition and the effect on SCFA production in response to sorghum bran polyphenols in normal weight (NW) and overweight/obese (O/O) subjects. Black and suman sorghum brans displayed individually unique polyphenol profiles. Total SCFA production tended to be higher in the NW group, while butyrate production from FOS tended to be higher in the O/O group. Sorghum bran phenolic extracts modulated the gut microbiota and stimulated Prevotella and the butyrate-producing bacteria Roseburia. They also worked synergistically with FOS to enhance Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Varying responses to sorghum polyphenols were seen between bacteria in NW and O/O. Our results support gut health-enhancing actions of sorghum polyphenols, some of which may depend on body weight status.


Daily, the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) ingests a bolus of lipid and protein in the form of phagocytized photoreceptor outer segments (OS). The RPE, like the liver, expresses enzymes required for fatty acid oxidation and ketogenesis. This suggests that these pathways play a role in the disposal of lipids from ingested OS, as well as providing a mechanism for recycling metabolic intermediates back to the outer retina. In this study, we examined whether OS phagocytosis was linked to ketogenesis. We found increased levels of β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) in the apical medium following ingestion of OS by human fetal RPE and ARPE19 cells cultured on Transwell inserts. No increase in ketogenesis was observed following ingestion of oxidized OS or latex beads. Our studies further defined the connection between OS phagocytosis and ketogenesis in wild-type mice and mice with defects in phagosome maturation using a mouse RPE explant model. In explant studies, the levels of β-HB released were temporally correlated with OS phagocytic burst after light onset. In the Mreg−/− mouse where phagosome maturation is delayed, there was a temporal shift in the release of β-HB. An even more pronounced shift in maximal β-HB production was observed in the Abca4−/− RPE, in which loss of the ATP-binding cassette A4 transporter results in defective phagosome processing and accumulation of lipid debris. These studies suggest that FAO and ketogenesis are key to supporting the metabolism of the RPE and preventing the accumulation of lipids that lead to oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction.


Introduction: Stroke is a common neurological disorder characterized by long term dependency of patient on family members and need rehabilitation at home with consequent disturbances in certain areas of life of caregivers. The aim of the study was to examine specific nature of the burden and to estimate the relative influence of caregivers' characteristics on burden in caregivers. Methods: A cross sectional descriptive survey was carried out by recruiting 100 caregivers purposively in selected rural community setting Punjab, India. WHOQOL-BREF scale and Zarit burden interview (ZBI) schedule was used to measures quality of life and burden in caregivers. Explanatory factors of burden were studied in term of personal and caregiving characteristics of caregivers. Descriptive statistics was applied to compute level of burden and simple and multiple linear regression analysis was applied to identify true predictors of burden in caregivers. Results: Caregivers of stroke survivors perceived varied pattern of burden. The most caregiving burden felt in term of feeling disturbance in relationship, loss of control in life and feeling more personal strain. Multiple regression analysis revealed that a higher level of burden could be partially explained by caregivers characteristics in term of female gender (β=0.275, p<0.042), private employment (β=0.233, p<0.049), and significant history of stroke (β=0.388, p<0.000). Findings reported good quality in social relation domain in caregivers. Conclusions: Caregivers of stroke survivors facing varied level of burden. Sharing responsibility, availability of family support in care and providing financial assistance may be important in the support of caregiving and improvement of quality of life. Study also suggested development of home rehabilitation programme to improve upon quality of life in caregivers of stroke survivors.


The SolidWorks Electrical 2015 Black Book, is written to help professionals as well as learners in performing various tedious jobs in Electrical control designing. The book follows the best proven step by step methodology. This book is more concentrated on making you able to use tools at right places. The book covers almost all the information required by a learner to master the SolidWorks Electrical. The book starts with basics of Electrical Designing, goes through all the Electrical controls related tools and ends up with practical examples of electrical schematics. Chapters also cover Reports that make you comfortable in creating and editing electrical component reports. Some of the salient features of this book are : In-Depth explanation of concepts Every new topic of this book starts with the explanation of the basic concepts. In this way, the user becomes capable of relating the things with real world. Topics Covered Every chapter starts with a list of topics being covered in that chapter. In this way, the user can easy find the topic of his/her interest easily. Instruction through illustration The instructions to perform any action are provided by maximum number of illustrations so that the user can perform the actions discussed in the book easily and effectively. There are about 400 illustrations that make the learning process effective. Tutorial point of view The book explains the concepts through the tutorial to make the understanding of users firm and long lasting. Each chapter of the book has tutorials that are real world projects. Project Free projects and exercises are provided to students for practicing. For Faculty If you are a faculty member, then you can ask for video tutorials on any of the topic, exercise, tutorial, or concept.


Edges of prosodic and morphological constituents often behave differently from non-edge positions, but it is not always clear how such edge-effects are brought about. This paper is a case study of an edge-phenomenon in different varieties of German. Thus, glottal stop epenthesis is limited to edges of morphemes in Southern German, but not in Standard German and insertion of a dissimilatory feature in /sC/ clusters is limited to root edges in Standard German, though not in some Southern varieties. I argue that an analysis in terms of optimality theory (Prince/Smolensky 1993) based on ranked, violable constraints can best account for these facts: high ranking of a constraint banning domain-internal epenthesis (O-CONTIGUITY) with respect to insertion triggering constraints can explain the restriction to edges, low ranking of the same constraint will result in application of epenthesis or dissimilation also inside the specified domain. Moreover, the implementation of the analysis in terms of optimality theory can shed light on this typical pattern of variation among closely related varieties of the same language: the difference between the variety where a process takes place everywhere and the variety where the same process applies only at edges will be analyzed as a minimal difference in faithfulness of the two grammars involved.


Aim Since the outbreak of the Novel Human Coronavirus epidemic, researchers around the world focused their efforts on tackling this global emergency. Research labs are joining forces to find a therapy and a preventive vaccine. Preventive and extraordinary safety measures are crucial to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2) among Health-Care Professionals (HCP). HCP performing or assisting aerosol-generating procedures are classified as "very high exposure risk" workers. New findings suggest that saliva delivered through cough, droplets released through normal breathing and oral mucosa represents a vector of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Consequently, viruses can be easily vehiculated by most of dental procedures and it is essential for dental offices to change the operating modes. The present narrative review aimed to gather evidence in order to propose operative guidelines to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in the dental offices. Emphasis was also given to unresolved questions about COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) diagnostics and future directions to improve the preventive and safety measures in daily dental practice.
Results Operative guidelines aimed to reduce the risk of transmission in the dental office are drawn and described.
Conclusion A rapid and reliable diagnostic test detecting COVID-19 positive patients upon arrival at the dental office could allow dental HCP to work in "semi-ordinary" conditions; infected or suspected patients would be postponed or treated only in case of a real emergency employing high-level PPE and extraordinary preventive strategies.


Climate change is more and more said to be a problem of migration. The common refrain is that climate change will bear in some way on patterns of human mobility, resulting in either insecurity, humanitarian crises, or all manner of inventive adaptive responses. The inherent challenge in such claims is, however, that of causality: the degree to which climate change influences migration alongside the myriad social, political, and economic reasons people migrate. This challenge is far from being settled. Importantly, the unsettled question of causality exposes how the crisis of humanism is central to the construction of the climate migrant or climate refugee. Coming to terms with this crisis means having to confront how issues of power and knowledge shape how we understand the relationship between climate change and migration. But even more importantly it means having to ask probing questions about what it means to be human today. The study develops these arguments through an engagement with the concept of the monster and with Timothy Morton's concept of the hyperobject. WIREs Clim Change 2017, 8:e460. doi: 10.1002/wcc.460


Background There is little empirical evidence in support of a relationship between rates of influenza infection and level of material deprivation (i.e., lack of access to goods and services) and social deprivation (i.e. lack of social cohesion and support). Method Using validated population-level indices of material and social deprivation and medical billing claims for outpatient clinic and emergency department visits for influenza from 1996 to 2006, we assessed the relationship between neighbourhood rates of influenza and neighbourhood levels of deprivation using Bayesian ecological regression models. Then, by pooling data from neighbourhoods in the top decile (i.e., most deprived) and the bottom decile, we compared rates in the most deprived populations to the least deprived populations using age- and sex-standardized rate ratios. Results Deprivation scores ranged from one to five with five representing the highest level of deprivation. We found a 21% reduction in rates for every 1 unit increase in social deprivation score (rate ratio [RR] 0.79, 95% Credible Interval [CrI] 0.66, 0.97). There was little evidence of a meaningful linear relationship with material deprivation (RR 1.06, 95% CrI 0.93, 1.24). However, relative to neighbourhoods with deprivation scores in the bottom decile, those in the top decile (i.e., most materially deprived) had substantially higher rates (RR 2.02, 95% Confidence Interval 1.99, 2.05). Conclusion Though it is hypothesized that social and material deprivation increase risk of acute respiratory infection, we found decreasing healthcare utilization rates for influenza with increasing social deprivation. This finding may be explained by the fewer social contacts and, thus, fewer influenza exposure opportunities of the socially deprived. Though there was no evidence of a linear relationship with material deprivation, when comparing the least to the most materially deprived populations, we observed higher rates in the most materially deprived populations.


Landscapes that we see today will change in the future. Scenarios are used as a method for dealing with uncertainties in change and to provide plausible descriptions of our future world. A number of projects have utilised scenarios and a modelling‐based approach to quantitatively investigate land use change at the national/regional‐scale using a GIS. However, the coarse‐scale of such land use data can render outputs inapplicable within local, often environmentally sensitive, landscapes. Improving data resolution allows us to investigate alternative potential futures at greater detail thereby providing vital input into policy and future decision‐making. It may also facilitate localised studies of habitat fragmentation connectivity and visualisation. This paper utilises scenarios and regional‐scale land use change data to facilitate a GIS‐based model of land use change within a sensitive wetland environment. Land use change data from the RegIS project is localised to the study area in Broadland, UK. Areal totals, from the land use change data, are replicated within 0.01% of areal totals prescribed, enabling very spatially detailed land use maps to be developed. This work represents a locally explicit realisation of coarser regional‐scale land use change data using an integrated GIS‐Multi‐Criteria Decision Analysis (GIS‐MCDA) methodology.


Tourmaline from the migmatitic metasedimentary rocks of the Serbo-macedonian massif of the Riziana and Kolchiko areas in Macedonia (Northern Greece) exhibit features that relate to the evolution of regional metamorphism and deformation. Tourmalines are found as megacrysts within anatectic pegmatitic leucosomes or as coarse-grained crystals within felsic bands in the metamorphic rocks. Associated minerals within the leucosomes or the felsic bands include quartz, plagioclase, feldspar, mica and apatite, with minor titanite, garnet, carbonates and opaques. Tourmalines are black and form discrete prismatic crystals up to 7 cm in size, or occur as anhedral poeciloblastic grains, or polycrystalline aggregates. Many of the tourmaline grains display a concentric colour zoning, while some are unzoned, diffusely zoned, or show patchy colour domains. Zoned tourmaline grains have light blue-green cores and olive-brown-green rims and chiefly belong to the schorl-dravite solid-solution series, displaying more schorlitic cores (Fe > Mg). Field, textural and chemical data support a pre-metamorphic origin of tourmaline from boron-rich partial melts or fluids rather than crystallization of porphyroblasts during regional metamorphism. Following their initial development, a complex sequence of deformational and metamorphic events have significantly modified the texture of the host rocks. Because of the highly refractory nature of tourmaline, the concentric texture and chemical zonation are interpreted as preserved primary growth features. However, tourmaline outer rims should be viewed as metamorphic, with a composition that has been partially reset during metamorphism. The poeciloblastic form, the polycrystalline domains and the diffuse zoning, as well as the penetrative fabric of the host rock, are all due to syntectonic metamorphic recrystallization


This study investigates consumer ethnocentrism, brand equity, brand origin confusion and customer involvement's impact on purchase intentions between domestic and import shampoo brands amongst Chinese and Greek consumers. It seeks to validate a new measurement scale–CEESCALE and test political event's influence on consumer ethnocentrism. Street surveys were conducted in Guangzhou and Athens with a total of 257 and 211 questionnaires collected respectively. Regression analysis and structural equation modelling were employed for the data analysis. The findings validate the CEESCALE as a reliable multidimensional scale to measure consumer ethnocentrism in China and Greece. The sub-dimensional impact of consumer ethnocentrism on purchase intentions varied between Chinese and Greek consumers. Compare to consumer ethnocentrism, product involvement and brand origin confusions, brand equity's effect on purchase intentions are more consistent. The political event only strengthened Chinese consumers' ethnocentric beliefs.


This research contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship by studying whether design patents and utility patents have similar effects on entrepreneurial activity. Other contributions of this research include comparing the relative influences on startup versus established entrepreneurs and the effects of patents versus trademarks. Results, based on a panel of U.S. states, show that established entrepreneurs benefit from both types of patenting and from trademarks, whereas startup entrepreneurs significantly benefit from only design patents, and the effects of design patents and trademarks are opposite. These findings suggest that the entrepreneurship bang from the patenting buck might differ across patenting types.


A labeling $f: V(G) \rightarrow \{1, 2, \ldots, d\}$ of the vertex set of a graph $G$ is said to be proper $d$-distinguishing if it is a proper coloring of $G$ and any nontrivial automorphism of $G$ maps at least one vertex to a vertex with a different label. The distinguishing chromatic number of $G$, denoted by $\chi_D(G)$, is the minimum $d$ such that $G$ has a proper $d$-distinguishing labeling. Let $\chi(G)$ be the chromatic number of $G$ and $D(G)$ be the distinguishing number of $G$. Clearly, $\chi_D(G) \ge \chi(G)$ and $\chi_D(G) \ge D(G)$. Collins, Hovey and Trenk have given a tight upper bound on $\chi_D(G)-\chi(G)$ in terms of the order of the automorphism group of $G$, improved when the automorphism group of $G$ is a finite abelian group. The Kneser graph $K(n,r)$ is a graph whose vertices are the $r$-subsets of an $n$ element set, and two vertices of $K(n,r)$ are adjacent if their corresponding two $r$-subsets are disjoint. In this paper, we provide a class of graphs $G$, namely Kneser graphs $K(n,r)$, whose automorphism group is the symmetric group, $S_n$, such that $\chi_D(G) - \chi(G) \le 1$. In particular, we prove that $\chi_D(K(n,2))=\chi(K(n,2))+1$ for $n\ge 5$. In addition, we show that $\chi_D(K(n,r))=\chi(K(n,r))$ for $n \ge 2r+1$ and $r\ge 3$.


Process development, cheaper bioreactor cost, and faster fermentation rate can aid in reducing the cost of fermentation. In this article, these ideas were combined in developing a previously introduced textile bioreactor for ethanol production. The bioreactor was developed to utilize flocculating yeast for ethanol production under anaerobic conditions. A mixing system, which works without aerators, spargers, or impellers, but utilizes the liquid content in the bioreactor for suspending the flocculating yeast to form a fluidized bed, was developed and examined. It could be used with dilution rates greater than 1.0 h−1 with less possibility of washout. The flow conditions required to begin and maintain a fluidized bed were determined. Fermentation experiments with flow rate and utilization of the mixing system as process variables were carried out. The results showed enhanced mass transfer as evidenced by faster fermentation rates on experiments with complete sucrose utilization after 36 h, even at 30 times lesser flow rate.


This paper is about gradation of meaning in English, the situation in which the degree of the quality of a word increases or decreases, caused conceptually by communicative demands and expressed lexically by other words called degree adverbs. The choice of a degree adverb reflects the speaker's viewpoint and influences the listener's reception of the message. With reference to this phenomenon, the paper explores three fundamental tenets of Cognitive Grammar. The first is that a linguistic item forms a category of interrelated senses. On this basis, degree adverbs are argued to acquire new senses relative to context of use. The second is that the meaning of a linguistic item is best understood in terms of the domain to which it belongs. On this basis, degree adverbs are argued to form sets in which they highlight different facets. The third is that the use of a linguistic item is motivated by the particular construal imposed on a scene. On this basis, the use of a degree adverb is argued to result from the particular construal the speaker chooses to describe a situation. Degree adverbs are found to be linguistic devices used to fine-tune a stance. A change in a stance requires a change in a degree adverb.


Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to measure and map the potential transportation network impedance to last-mile delivery (LMD) using spatial measures representing attributes of road network and planning controls.

Design/methodology/approach

The transport network impedance is estimated as the potential hindrance to LMD as imposed by the characteristics of the built and regulatory environment. A matrix of key transport and planning measures are generated and overlaid in geographical information systems to compute and visualise the levels of transportation network impedance to LMD using a composite indexing method.

Findings

The mapped outputs reveal significant spatial variation in transportation network impedance to LMD across different part of the study area. Significant differences were detected along the road segments that connect key industrial hubs or activity centres especially along tram routes and freight corridors, connecting the Port of Melbourne and logistic hub with the airport and the Western Ring Road.

Research limitations/implications

The use of static measures of transport and urban planning restricts the robustness of the impedance index, which can be enhanced through better integration of dynamic and real-time movements of business-to-business LMD of goods. Spatial approach is valuable for broader urban planning at a metropolitan or council level; however, its use is somewhat limited in assisting the daily operational planning and logistics decision making in terms of dynamic routing and vehicle scheduling.

Practical implications

The built and regulatory environment contributes to the severity of LMD problem in urban areas. The use of land use controls as instruments to increase city compactness in strategic nodes/hubs is more likely to deter the movement of urban freight. The mapped outputs would help urban planners and logisticians in mitigating the potential delay in last-mile deliveries through devising localised strategies such as dedicated freight corridors or time-bound deliveries in congested areas of road network.

Originality/value

This is the first study that measured the potential transport network impedance to LMD and improved understanding of the complex interactions between urban planning measures and LMD. Micro-scale mapping of transportation network impedance at the street level adds an innovative urban planning dimension to research in the growing field of city logistics.


AIM
To investigate persons with dementia and their informal caregivers' views of inter-sectoral information, communication and collaboration throughout the trajectory of dementia care, in eight European countries.

BACKGROUND
Living with dementia and being next of kin to a person with dementia means having to live through stages that have different characteristics, needs, challenges and requirements.

DESIGN
Qualitative research. Focus groups were conducted in England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.

METHODS
Persons with dementia and their informal caregivers (N = 137) participated in focus group interviews during 2011. Content analysis generated a tentative model of information, communication and collaboration for people with dementia and their caregivers, which was then tested.

RESULTS
The core finding was that information, communication and collaboration were to be focused on the persons with dementia and the informal caregivers. Entering into the trajectory of the disease and its consequences was addressed as an important point of departure. The relation to professional care required establishing a trusting relationship, tailor-made intervention and a single person or organization to contact. Professional knowledge and commitment, variation in service and care adapted to needs were important.

CONCLUSION
As focus of care is on the person with dementia and their informal caregivers, a dyadic approach seems most suitable for dementia care. A trusting relationship and a specific person or organization to contact seem to be indicators of best practice, as does adaptation to the needs of the person with dementia and their informal caregiver.


One of the few available books of criticism on the topic, this monograph presents the fullest account to date of Don DeLillo's writing, situating his oeuvre within a wider analysis of the condition of contemporary fiction, and dealing with his entire work in relation to contemporary political and economic concerns for the fist time.

Providing a lucid and nuanced reading of DeLillo's ambivalent engagement with American and European culture, as well as with modernism and postmodernism, and globalization and terrorism, this fascinating volume interrogates the critical and aesthetic capacities of fiction in what is an age of global capitalism and US cultural imperialism.


This study explores the underlying motivations in the strongly autobiographical dimension marking the work of two important Congolese writers; V.Y. Mudimbe and P. Ngandu Nkashama. The different modalities in the use of the first-person "I" are identified, different in the case of each author, who by a form of mimesis or by style, symbolically or realistically, explores personal frustrations and questions stages of his own life. It seems the novel quickly finds itself limited by such ambiguities in the relationship between author-narrator-reader, and also by the very nature of the contract implicit in that relationship. The diary and particular use of dedications, on the other hand, seem to allow more immediate access to emotion and questioning, because they always find a starting point in personal experience.


The purpose of the present work is to study the yield of the essential oil of an aromatic and endemic species Artemisia mesatlantica. Additionally, we sought to determine the chemical composition of the essential oil produced by this species, as well as the determination of its antifungal activity against four microorganisms. Our samples are collected from a rural and mountainous area located in Middle Atlas of eastern Morocco (between Ifrane and Boulmane cities). Forty four constituents were identified by chromatographic analysis (GC and GC/MS) in the essential oil of this species, among which four are preponderant: â–thujone, 1,8 cineole, camphene and camphor. The yield of the essential oil of Artemisia mesatlantica is 1% (mg/100g). The essential oil of Artemisia mesatlantica showed a significant antifungal activity against all four wood rot fungi. To our knowledge, this work is the first of its kind.


Using statistical models, this dissertation investigates the transmission and effects of monetary and fiscal policies in the context of new challenges and environments that emerged following the 2008 global financial crisis. Chapter 2 analyzes an important step in the transmission of monetary policy—the interest rate pass-through from money market rates to consumer retail loan and deposit rates—in Canada from 1983 to 2015 using a nonlinear vector error-correction model. I find that pass-through was complete for all rates before the financial crisis but since the end of the 2008–09 recession, it has significantly declined for deposit rates. Chapter 3, co-authored with Margaux MacDonald, investigates the effects of unconventional monetary policy in Canada. We use recently proposed methods to construct a shadow interest rate that captures monetary policy at the zero lower bound and estimate a small open economy Bayesian structural vector autoregressive model. Controlling for the US macroeconomic and monetary policy variables, we find that Canadian unconventional monetary policy had expansionary effects on the Canadian economy. Chapter 4 shifts focus to fiscal policy. The rise in US partisan conflict following the Great Recession led to a popular belief that uncertainty about fiscal policy was impeding output growth. I explore this hypothesis by nesting it in a standard structural vector autoregression model traditionally used for estimating fiscal multipliers. I augment the model with stochastic volatility (a measure of uncertainty) and allow that to interact with the endogenous variables. I consider various trend assumptions, subsamples, information sets and estimation methods and find that the evidence does not support


The work described in this thesis was in the field of Forensic Toxicology, which is the study and practice of toxicology for legal purposes. Three different application areas were considered: (a) the analysis of drugs in blood by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) following isolation from the biological matrix by solid phase extraction procedures, (b) the analysis of paint solvents in blood by gas chromatography (GC) and GC-MS following dynamic headspace elution from blood, and (c) an evaluation of Thermospray/Plasmaspray (TSP/PSP LC-MS) liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry as the basis of drug screening techniques in forensic toxicology. (a) In the first of these areas, a sensitive, specific and reliable method was developed for the analysis of basic drugs in blood, using morphine and buprenorphine as model compounds which are also drugs commonly abused in the Glasgow area. A novel extraction procedure was used, based on a commercially available chemically-modified silica containing surface-bound benzenesulphonylpropyl groups, which served as a cation exchange resin. Several methods for the initial treatment of the biological matrix wre examined and the one selected involved absorption of the blood sample on diatomaceous earth and solvent elution of the crude extract containing any drugs present in the sample. This extract was then purified using the cation exchange resin: conditions suitable for the efficient retention of basic drugs and subsequent elution were also examined and developed. The extraction efficiencies for morphine were 925% and 954% at concentrations of 35 and 560ng/ml blood, respectively, for buprenorphine 836% and 875% , at concentration of 0.5 and 8ng/ml respectively, and for other drugs were better than 85% . The end-step analytical technique chosen for this method was GC-MS, because of analytical and legal requirements with respect to sensitivity and specificity. The polar nature of the model compounds, and of many other drugs likely to be encountered in this field, required chemical modification of the substances prior to gas chromatography. A comparison was made of three silyl ether derivatives - the trimethylsily (TMS), ethyldimethylsilyl (EMS) and tert-butyldimethylsilyl (MTBS) ethers. The conditions required for derivative formation were examined, including the choice of silyl donor reagent, solvents, temperature of reaction and time to completion. The EDMS donor, diethyltetramethyldisilazane, was selected on the basis of the midl reaction conditions required for the test compounds and also because this reagent caused less interference during GC-MS analysis. EDMS ethers gave satisfactory gas chromatographic behaviour and the presence of prominent ions at high mass was shown to be advantageous for specific and sensitive detection by SIR-MS with little background interference. The developed method was considered to be useful for both clinical and post-mortem blood samples containing morphine and buprenorphine down to the low picogram/millilitre level, and therefore adequate for the intended purpose. The method was subsequently applied to 13 samples submitted for analysis to the Department of Forensic Medicine and Science and found to be satisfactory. (b) In the second area of application, dynamic head space (DHS) elution was used for the analysis of paint solvents in blood. Volatilised solvents were trapped on a Tenax-GC cartridge and were subsequently analysed by GC-MS. The extraction efficiency of this method for C18-C12 n-alkane hydrocarbons, which were present in the paint materials, was better than 90% and sensitivity down to pg/ml levels was obtained. Solvent extraction procedures for these hydrocarbons were evaluated using high purity solvent. The extraction efficiency was better than 85% . Analysis of extracts by GC or GC-MS suffered from interference from the solvent front which reduced the sensitivity. The DHS method was applied to a pilot study for occupational monitoring of a group of painters to assess the presence of paint solvents in their blood. Two venous blood samples were collected at the beginning and at the end of a working week from each subject. They showed the presence of several solvents similar to those present in paint material and the levels in the second series of samples were higher than those of the first series. The differences between the levels in the two series were statistically significant for n-nonane, n-undecane and alkylbenzenes. The levels in the first sample indicated incomplete clearance of these solvents from the body during the weekend, and the second samples indicated solvent uptake during the working week. Solvent contamination in the extraction system was tackled by several approaches but still hindered the accurate estimation of solvent levels in blood. (c) In the third area of application, the operating parameters which control the sensitivity of the mass spectrometer using the TSP/PSP LC-MS interface were evaluated. These included the effects of the probe temperature and discharge voltage on sensitivity and mass spectral fragmentation pattern and the effects of the mobile phase constituents on sensitivity and mass spectral peak stability. Solvent systems containing ammonium acetate buffer and an organic modifier such as acetonitrile produced the best results in plasmaspray LC-MS. Three model HPLC-MS analyses were developed for mixtures of basic drugs, barbiturates and opiates using both the plasmaspray positive and negative ion modes. During the development of the mobile phases, the optimization of chromatography by organic modifiers was assessed. The quality of chromatography obtained was not always as good as expected in conventional HPLC, but the combination of chromatographic and mass spectral data could be used for identification and quantification purposes. A compilation of PSP mass spectra of drugs commonly encountered in forensic toxicology was produced. These mass spectra provided mostly molecular weight information with little structural information.


Background. Some studies have suggested that breastfeeding may be protective against the development of schizophrenia. Such a theory supports the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia.
Objective. To determine whether there were differences in breastfeeding patterns between patients with schizophrenia and controls.
Method. Fifty subjects with schizophrenia and 50 age- and gender-matched controls were included in the study. All subjects and their mothers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire to determine the extent of breastfeeding in infancy and age of onset of psychosis.
Results. There was a significant difference in the duration of breastfeeding in patients versus controls (p < 0.05).
Conclusion. Breastfeeding seems to be protective against the development of schizophrenia. This supports the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of this disorder and may be indicative of the role of essential fatty acids in normal brain development and the prevention of schizophrenia.


Balance between optical Kerr and plasma defocusing effects causes the femtosecond laser filamentation. In this case the laser intensity inside the laser filament is stable and becomes unvaried during increasing the laser energy. This phenomenon is called intensity clamping. In this paper the super continuum spectrums of the femtosecond Ti: Sapphire laser pulses which were propagated in water, at different input laser energy from 66 μJ to 0.6 mJ were investigated. The experimental results show asymmetric broadening spectrums by increasing the input laser energy .Also it was shown that the blue shifting toward the shorter wavelength is constant for the input energy above 460 μj.


BACKGROUND
Hundreds of genes lacking homology to any protein of known function are sequenced every day. Genome-context methods have proved useful in providing clues about functional annotations for many proteins. However, genome-context methods detect many biological types of functional associations, and do not identify which type of functional association they have found.

RESULTS
We have developed two new genome-context-based algorithms. Algorithm 1 extends our previous algorithm for identifying missing enzymes in predicted metabolic pathways (pathway holes) to use genome-context features. The new algorithm has significantly improved scope because it can now be applied to pathway reactions to which sequence similarity methods cannot be applied due to an absence of known sequences for enzymes catalyzing the reaction in other organisms. The new method identifies at least one known enzyme in the top ten hits for 58% of EcoCyc reactions that lack enzyme sequences in other organisms. Surprisingly, the addition of genome-context features does not improve the accuracy of the algorithm when sequences for the enzyme do exist in other organisms. Algorithm 2 uses genome-context methods to predict three distinct types of functional relationships between pairs of proteins: pairs that occur in the same protein complex, the same pathway, or the same operon. This algorithm performs with varying degrees of accuracy on each type of relationship, and performs best in predicting pathway and protein complex relationships.


The surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) of graphene reflect the microscopic spatial variations of underlying electronic structure and dynamics. Here, we excite and image the graphene SPP response in phase and amplitude by near-field interferometry. We develop an analytic cavity model that can self-consistently describe the SPP response function for edge, grain boundary, and defect SPP reflection and scattering. The derived SPP wave vector, damping, and carrier mobility agree with the results from more complex models. Spatial variations in the Fermi level and associated variations in dopant concentration reveal a nanoscale spatial inhomogeneity in the reduced conductivity at internal boundaries. The additional SPP phase information thus opens a new degree of freedom for spatial and spectral graphene SPP tuning and modulation for optoelectronics applications.


Introduction: Vibrio cholerae, the cause of cholera, is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in many developing countries. Especially during monsoon season, cholera outbreaks have been frequently reported from one or the other part of this country. However, occasional sporadic cases have also been reported, majorly due to lack of proper sanitation and impure water supply. Aim: To determine the prevalence of serotypes of Vibrio isolates from cases of acute diarrhea and their antibiotic susceptibility pattern in a tertiary care hospital, North India. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was conducted over a period of 1 year from January 2013 to December 2013 in the department of microbiology, in a tertiary care hospital in Punjab. The diagnosis was suggested by the clinical picture and confirmed by stool culture. The stool samples received in the laboratory were processed by standard microbiological techniques for identification of V. cholerae. The suspected colonies of Vibrio were identified by standard biochemical tests and serotyping was done by group specific antisera. The susceptibility of all the isolated Vibrio species to different antibiotics were done by Kirby-Bauer′s disk diffusion technique as per the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) guidelines. Results: V. cholerae were isolated from 41 (3.8%) of total 1063 stool samples received during the study period. On serotyping, 100% (41) of these positive samples were identified as V. cholerae 01 ogawa serotype. 95% (39) cases were encountered during monsoon season. In the present study analysis of the antibiotic susceptibility data showed highest susceptibility to gentamicin, amikacin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol. There is gradual increase in resistance to ampicillin and high level of resistance was observed for furazolidone and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole during the same period. Conclusions: Our study reveals a significant increase in cases of Vibrio infection during monsoon season, with V. cholerae 01ogawa as the predominant serotype. The results also suggest that this organism has begun to develop resistance against ampicillin, trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole and furazolidone drugs and therefore these should not be used in the first line treatment.


The archaeological subdivision of the Early Dynastic period of Mesopotamia into ED I, II, and III was established in the 1930s during excavations conducted by the Iraq Expedition of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in the Diyala region east of Baghdad. The Square Temple building period, part of a temple sequence uncovered at the Diyala site of Tell Asmar, defined the ED II subdivision along with the Asmar sculpture hoard and Fara-style glyptic. In particular, the geometric-style sculpture in the Asmar hoard was considered so significant that all Diyala temple levels in which such sculpture first appeared were correlated with the onset of ED II. Subsequently, ED II has proven to be elusive in the archaeological record of greater Mesopotamia. A review of the Square Temple excavations suggests that the ED II subdivision is problematic because of the criteria upon which it was established: sculpture style was given precedence over the Square Temple material assemblage, which is ED I. It is therefore concluded here that even within the Diyala region itself, the concept of ED II is largely untenable, and new interpretations are proposed for the original contexts upon which the Early Dynastic subdivisions of Mesopotamia were formulated. More generally, and as an assessment of an established chronology, this article addresses the various issues involved in negotiating the intersection of stratigraphy, material culture, and dating.


In this essay, I suggest that the central section of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein – the creature's description of his first experiences – echoes Hume's and Bacon's discussions of inductive reasoning. Because the creature must learn the causes of phenomena the reader takes for granted, his story defamiliarizes both the reader's world and the process of induction itself. The creature's tale thus functions as a travel narrative, and produces the cognitive estrangement associated with science fiction. I then examine the prominence of inductive reasoning in the novel as a whole, and discuss Victor's and the creature's singular situations as resistant to inductive understanding. I argue that Shelley uses various narrative techniques (such as embedded narratives and character doubling) to invite and frustrate readers' attempts to use induction to solve the novel's central moral questions. The reader's inability to form coherent inductive patterns in part accounts for the novel's radical ambiguity. Finally, I suggest some consequences for Frankenstein's relation to the gothic: the novel departs from gothic conventions in its unusual use of the doppelganger, and its rhetorical goals in invoking induction.


EM 49 (recently renamed octapeptin) is a membrane-active peptide antibiotic that has been reported to affect the structure of bacterial membranes (K. S. Rosenthal, P. E. Swanson, and D. R. Storm, Biochemistry 15:5783–5792, 1976). In this study, it is shown that the effects of EM 49 on bacterial metabolism are similar to those of uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation. EM 49 stimulated bacterial respiration within a narrow concentration range corresponding to minimum inhibitory concentrations and inhibited respiration at concentrations comparable to minimum biocidal concentrations. In addition, the peptide increased membrane proton permeability and lowered the adenosine 5′-triphosphate pool size. Parallel studies done with the related antibiotic polymyxin B demonstrated that the two peptides differed considerably in their effects on bacterial respiration. In contrast to EM 49, polymyxin B did not stimulate respiration at any concentration. It is proposed that the primary action of EM 49 is to disrupt the selective ion permeability of the cytoplasmic membrane, thereby relaxing the membrane potential.


This article analyses the external dimension, especially the diplomacy involved in the whole process of trying to ram through the national parliament, a tenure extension by President Olusegun Obasanjo and his quislings in government It examines the activities of the social forces that were involved in the tenure elongation project, It argues that there were good reasons for such a diplomatic engagement with Nigeria, It further argues that due to the interplay of diplomacy, countervailing measures availed to scuttle the third agenda. It concludes by emphasising the point that though the international community was forthcoming in the struggle against the third agenda, the intra-class split was most decisive for the defeat of the third term agenda.


We use a field experiment to evaluate the impact of two informational get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns to boost female electoral participation in Paraguay. We find that public campaigns had no effect either on the probability of registration, or on voter turnout in the 2013 presidential election. However, households that received door-to-door (D2D) treatment were four percentage points more likely to vote. Experimental variation on the intensity of the treatment at the village level allows us to estimate spillover effects, which are present in localities that are geographically more concentrated, and thus may favor social interactions. The effect of reinforcement of the message to the already treated population is twice as large as the diffusion to the untreated. Our results underscore the importance of taking into account urbanization patterns when designing informational campaigns.


The usage of deep generative models for image compression has led to impressive performance gains over classical codecs while neural video compression is still in its infancy. Here, we propose an end-to-end, deep generative modeling approach to compress temporal sequences with a focus on video. Our approach builds upon variational autoencoder (VAE) models for sequential data and combines them with recent work on neural image compression. The approach jointly learns to transform the original sequence into a lower-dimensional representation as well as to discretize and entropy code this representation according to predictions of the sequential VAE. Rate-distortion evaluations on small videos from public data sets with varying complexity and diversity show that our model yields competitive results when trained on generic video content. Extreme compression performance is achieved when training the model on specialized content.


The IsisCB Explore went online in 2015 as a foundational digital resource for historians of science. Built on the History of Science Society's 100-year-old Isis Bibliography of the History of Science, this service is meant to lay the groundwork for a digital infrastructure to support historical work in the relatively new digital environment where so much modern scholarship now takes place. In order to create this resource, the director of the project, Stephen Weldon, has learned how to shape traditional historical methods, practices, and resources to fit the new digital paradigm. Computer and networking technologies have been built out of the needs and practices of technologists, natural scientists, and business innovators, all of whom employ it in very specific ways, quite different from the practices of humanistic scholarship, and history in particular. As a result, the digital environment is not especially friendly to historical work or products. As a result, it has taken a great deal of effort to understand and refactor historical data so that it functions well within a digital knowledge ecology, a "knowledge infrastructure," as Christine Borgman refers to it. This paper describes the difficulties (epistemological, cultural, and economic) that make the creation of tools like the IsisCB Explore service challenging for historians and suggests some ways forward.


ABSTRACT A new 30-m spatial resolution global shoreline vector (GSV) was developed from annual composites of 2014 Landsat satellite imagery. The semi-automated classification of the imagery was accomplished by manual selection of training points representing water and non-water classes along the entire global coastline. Polygon topology was applied to the GSV, resulting in a new characterisation of the number and size of global islands. Three size classes of islands were mapped: continental mainlands (5), islands greater than 1 km2 (21,818), and islands smaller than 1 km2 (318,868). The GSV represents the shore zone land and water interface boundary, and is a spatially explicit ecological domain separator between terrestrial and marine environments. The development and characteristics of the GSV are presented herein. An approach is also proposed for delineating standardised, high spatial resolution global ecological coastal units (ECUs). For this coastal ecosystem mapping effort, the GSV will be used to separate the nearshore coastal waters from the onshore coastal lands. The work to produce the GSV and the ECUs is commissioned by the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and is associated with several GEO initiatives including GEO Ecosystems, GEO Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) and GEO Blue Planet.


Lumpur Island in Sidoarjo, East Java, is an island formed by mud sedimentation. This island emerged after the Lapindo mud disaster. This study is aimed at mapping the distribution and the extent of mangrove ecosystem as well as potentially, to analyze land use for Eco Fishery Tourism. This research uses technical analysis of aerial photographs using a low-cost drone and satellite images through the process of scattered aerial images and satellite imagery. It shows that Lumpur Island has an area of 85.37 ha, where 70.38 ha of the island was covered by mangrove ecosystem. This island is potentially managed as Eco Fishery Tourism by Land use management based on area mangrove ecosystem, puddle area and pond.


The paper begins by observing that very different notions of academic freedom emerge depending on whether the word "academic" is understood strongly. If it is, the freedom academics can claim is limited to the core duties they preform in accordance with a contractual or quasi-contractual understanding of the academic task. In most cases this will mean teaching and/or research activities. So limited, academic freedom is a professional privilege that follows from the unique nature of the academic job––the advancement of truth by means of disinterested techniques of investigation and inquiry. Academics do not enjoy that privilege if they are engaged in other activities even if they take place in a university setting. A more expansive notion of academic freedom will follow from an emphasis on the word "freedom." If academic freedom is thought to be either a subset of the doctrine of freedom of speech or of the general imperative to advance the cause of freedom, academics will conceive themselves as free to use their positions in an effort to further the causes––usually political–– they are committed to. It is this expansive notion of academic freedom that leads, for example, to the academic boycott of Israeli universities. Those who favor the boycott resist the accusation that it violates academic freedom and argue instead that a proper understanding of academic freedom requires the boycott. I contend that one moves from a severely professional definition of academic freedom to a more global definition in five stages, which I call the five schools of academic freedom. A description and assessment of those schools is at the heart of the lecture.


The delayed healing of episiotomy wound and its associated pain is a major problem in obstetrics. Because green tea has analgesic and wound‐healing properties, the present study was conducted to determine the effect of green tea ointment on episiotomy pain and wound‐healing. The green tea extract was also standardized by measuring its Phenolic and flavonoid compounds, antioxidant activity, and one of its active components, that is, Epigallocatechin gallate. The present clinical trial was conducted on 99 primiparous women visiting Afzalipour Hospital in Kerman in 2015. The subjects were randomly divided into 3 groups, including a green tea ointment group, a placebo ointment group, and a routine care group. The 2 ointment groups smeared 2 cm of the green tea or placebo ointments onto their sutured area twice daily for a total of 10 days. The severity of pain was assessed in the subjects using the visual pain scale and wound‐healing using the Redness, Edema, Ecchymosis, Discharge, Approximation (REEDA) scale before the intervention and on the 5th and 10th days after delivery. To standardize the extract, Epigallocatechin gallate was measured by high‐performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Phenolic and flavonoid compounds, as well as antioxidant activity of the extract were also determined by spectrometry methods. Before the intervention, no significant differences were observed between the 3 groups in terms of their personal and obstetric details (p > .05), the severity of pain (p = .118), and the REEDA score (p = .212). On the 5th and 10th days after delivery, the severity of pain was significantly lower in the green tea group than in the other 2 groups (p < .0001). The mean REEDA score on the 5th and 10th days showed a better and faster healing in the green tea group compared to the other 2 groups (p < .0001). Total content of phenolic and flavonoids contents of green tea were 74.2 mg/g Gallic acid equivalent and 16.3 mg/g Rutin equivalent, respectively, and its antioxidant capacity was 46% of b‐carotene. Green tea ointment appears to be effective in relieving episiotomy pain and improving wound‐healing in this study. Further studies are recommended to be conducted on the effectiveness and safety of the different doses of green tea ointment.


No fault advocates commonly predict automobile insurance cost savings for consumers in states adopting no-faults statutes in place of a tort system. For states implementing no-fault, the cost results have been mixed. This study compares the loss costs of no-fault from 1974 through 1985. Not surprisingly, the findings suggest that the bodily injury liability loss costs were lower on average in no-fault states than in tort states after controlling for the influence of wages, population density, and the presence of comparative negligence. However, total bodily injury related costs were not significantly lower on average in no-fault states, and they were significantly higher in states with compulsory add-on laws and to a lesser extent in states with high tort thresholds. Whether the lack of estimated cost savings on average in no-fault states in attributable to selection bias or not, the causes of this result are important issues for further research.

http://libres.uncg.edu/ir/uncg/f/D_Winkler_Cost_1992 (MULTI UNCG AUTHORS).pdf


Instruction in quality end-of-life care is gaining presence in the nursing curricula, yet how to best incorporate it remains undecided. Concurrently, high-fidelity simulation has quickly become a popular strategy for teaching nursing content. The authors describe the impact of teaching with simulation and the process of developing an end-of-life laboratory simulation for first year students in an associate degree nursing program.


Environmental Justice research has focused on demonstrating the extent to which air pollution is equally—or unequally— distributed across particular defined social groups. A socioeconomic group of particular importance are children, as they are especially susceptible to air pollution because of their high inhalation rates relative to body mass, high activity concentrations, narrower lung airways, and immature immune systems (Lipsett, 1989; Pope, 1989;; Wiley et. al., 1991). More than just exhibiting negative health consequences, exposure to air pollution has also been associated with poor academic performance among schoolaged children (Mohai et al., 2011).Research has focused on outdoor air pollution, however, the conclusions drawn have a methodological myopia: the research assumes that outdoor air pollution is an accurate indicator of personal exposure. Yet, on average, people spend more than 90% of their time indoors (Klepeis et al. 2001), where levels can be 2-5 times more polluted than outdoors (Hulin, Simoni, Viegi, & AnnesiMaesano, 2012).  The combination of both the length of time spent inside, and the potential for higher concentrations means that personal exposure is greater indoors rather than outdoors (Vardoulakis, 2009). However, to understand indoor air quality (IAQ), one must rely on the principle that the indoor atmosphere is an extension of the outdoor atmosphere. To understand environmental justice, one must have a holistic understanding of air pollution, indoors and outdoors. The aim of the research is to develop new understandings of patterns of exposure to poor air quality for school children. This will involve simultaneously monitoring multiple pollutants inside and outside using the NAQTS V1000 in a range of different places and indoor environments (schools and school buses) and with a fine temporal resolution. This will permit a holistic and more complex understanding of patterns of exposure for school children to be developed, including in terms of its implications for vulnerability and distributive justice.


The classical realist world view places moral standards subservient to the power concerns of international actors. Realists did not make this valuation without some hesitation, as the issue of morality was addressed with seriousness and concern. The neo-realist thinking of today embraces with less hesitation the ultimate conclusion of the realist premises: statesmen never act according to moral precepts, thus such concerns need not be addressed by a political theory. Kegly argues the neo-idealist position that opposes this empirical observation: states consistently act according to values that are based on more than power concerns. Kegley's primary intent is to show that neo-realism ignores factors that influence international actors, and that a theory is needed that expands the notion of self-interest to include the moral sphere.


The main contributions of this paper are in designing fast and scalable parallel algorithms for selection and median filtering. Based on the radix-/spl omega/ representation of data and the prune-and-search approach, we first design a fast and scalable selection algorithm on the arrays with reconfigurable optical buses (AROB). To the authors' knowledge, this is the most time efficient algorithm yet published, especially compared to the algorithms proposed by Han et al (2002) and Pan (1994). Then, given an N /spl times/ N image and a W /spl times/ W window, based on the proposed selection algorithm, several scalable median filtering algorithms are developed on the AROB model with a various number of processors. In the sense of the product of time and the number of processors used, most of the proposed algorithms are time or cost optimal.


The recent emergence of a decreased susceptibility of Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains to penicillin in New Caledonia has lead clinicians to operate a change in the treatment strategy. In addition, this important health issue has emphasized the need for a rapid means of detecting penicillin resistance in N. gonorrhoeae in order to select an effective treatment and limit the spread of resistant strains. In recent years, the use of fluorescence resonance energy transfer on the LightCycler has proven to be a valuable tool for the screening of mutations occurring in the genome of various microorganisms. In this study, we developed a real-time PCR assay coupled with a fluorometric hybridization probes system to detect a penicillin resistance-associated mutation on the N. gonorrhoeae ponA gene. Following an extensive evaluation involving 136 isolates, melting curve analysis correctly evidenced a 5 degrees C T(m) shift in all N. gonorrhoeae strains possessing this mutation, as determined by conventional sequencing analysis. Moreover, the mutation profiles obtained with the real-time PCR showed good correlation with the pattern of penicillin susceptibility generated with classical antibiograms. Overall, our molecular assay allowed an accurate and reproducible determination of the susceptibility to penicillin corresponding to a mutation present in all chromosomally mediated resistant strains of N. gonorrhoeae.


Chinese loess has been extensively utilized to produce continuous and high-resolution climate records of the late Cenozoic. Such work assumes uninterrupted loess deposition and limited diagenesis. Here, closely spaced optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates are used to characterize the Holocene and Late Pleistocene sedimentation histories of three sites across a NW-SE transect of the Chinese Loess Plateau. The results suggest that sedimentation is episodic at subglacial-interglacial time scales, with rates rapidly varying within units and between sites. Unconformities, noneolian deposition, and mixing of sediments also appear to be common. Existing understanding of loess deposition therefore requires reexamination, while previous reconstructions of rapid climate change, not dated using absolute methods, should be regarded with caution. Loess deposits may still yield detailed climate records from specific high-sedimentation-rate strata, and evidence for rapid climate change may yet be obtainable by targeting these units through absolute dating. The rapid changes in sedimentation presented here indicate the East Asian Monsoon has the capacity to vary on millennial scales.


Mixed monolayers of chlorophyll (chl) and zeaxanthin exhibit large, reversible bathochromic spectral shifts (from 688 to 733 nm) with increasing surface pressure (decreasing intermolecular distance). The absorption spectrum of the monolayer can be made to be similar to that of Photosystem I or II, by varying the mole ratio of chl to carotenoid, surface pressure and type of carotenoid used. There are only minor effects on the absorption spectrum upon compression of monomolecular films of pure chl a or its isomer chl a′, or mixed films of chl and carotenoids that do not contain dihydroxy groups.


Egypt and Tunisia began their fertility transition at almost identical fertility levels and at roughly the same time period, yet the difference in the pace of decline has been such that the total fertility rate (TFR) in Tunisia reached replacement level by the year 2001, whereas the TFR in Egypt remains above three live births per woman. This article draws on the secondary literature and on several nationally representative surveys from the two countries between 1978 and 2005 to provide empirical evidence of the difference in the pace of fertility decline and to analyze the determinants of the differential. Findings include (a) variation across the two countries in the consistency of fertility decline among the segments of the population leading the transition; (b) that the success of each country's family planning program was influenced by the role of political leaders and the extent of the program's integration within socioeconomic development objectives; (c) that the impact of contraception on TFR decline became an important factor in the mid-1980s; and (d) that the greatest determinant of the discrepancy in the pace of fertility decline is the disparity in age at marriage, which rose more significantly in Tunisia than in Egypt. The latter finding indicates that reaching replacement fertility in Egypt hinges primarily on further declines in marital fertility, resulting from reduction of wanted fertility and from an expansion of family planning program coverage and improved efficiency of service delivery and use.


The aim of the article is to discuss interrelation between knowledge management and organizational structure of organization. Organizational structure is a backbone of the organization. Type of organizational structure used has strong impact on everyday life of organization and influences all its activities, including knowledge management. From the point of view of knowledge management, three basic groups of organizational structures can be identified in organizations; top down structures, bottom up structures and combined structures. The article defines advantages and disadvantages of these groups of organizational structures and explains how they influence knowledge management activities in the organization. Combined organizational structure represents the best choice for those who want to use full potential of knowledge in their organization. The article presents results of the research made by Department of Management, University of Economics Prague in organizations in the Czech Republic. The research started in 2004. Till today, 131 organizations have been interviewed. The results of research show growth in number of combined organizational structures, especially in highly competitive industries.


Water quality protection and preservation pave, within the last decade, become imperative functions of local, state and federal governments. This focus has brought to light, newly revealed forms of water pollution. Nonpoint source pollution has become one of the major sources of pollutants. Nonpoint source pollution is a generic term for pollutants that come from individual stormwater sewage runoff, disposal systems, erosion road deicing practices and and sediment, fertilizer and pesticide use, to name a few. The study area of this report consists of the portion of the south branch of the Pawtuxet River from South Main Street to Laurel Avenue and the surrounding sub-drainage basins. This is the section of the south branch if the River where the water quality classification changes from Class B to Class C. A great number of reports have been written about water quality throughout the state, nonpoint source poll~tion and the Pawtuxet River, but none them focus on this section of the river. This study focuses on a specific portion of the river where a worsening water quality problem exists. The report discusses facts and reasons for the water quality problem as it relates to the types nonpoint recommendations recommendations source pollution and offers for possibly alleviating the call for the development of practices or BMP' s to alleviate the nonpoint problem. Some of these BMP's include: solutions and problem. The best management source pollution o Establishing wastewater management districts throughout the Town of Coventry. o Establishing vegetative buffer strips along the banks of the River. o Creating retention, detention or infiltration basins to filter pollutants from storm runoff. o Establishing sewer lines throughout the eastern portion of the Town to alleviate the environmental strain caused by ISDS failure. o Establishing programs that inform and educate the public about the River and its problems. If implemented, these strategies would effectively reduce the amount of nonpoint source pollutants that enter the River, thereby improving its water quality. The process of achieving improved water quality on the Pawtuxet River involves not only the efforts of federal, state and local agencies but also the cooperation of private interest groups and the general public.


Recent nature conservation initiatives in Southern Africa such as communal conservancies and peace parks are often embedded in narratives of economic development and ecological research. They are also increasingly marked by militarisation and violence. In Ruling Nature, Controlling People, Luregn Lenggenhager shows that these features were also characteristic of South African rule over the Caprivi Strip region in North-Eastern Namibia, especially in the fields of forestry, fisheries and, ultimately, wildlife conservation. In the process, the increasingly internationalised war in the region from the late 1960s until Namibia's independence in 1990 became intricately interlinked with contemporary nature conservation, ecology and economic development projects. By retracing such interdependencies, Lenggenhager provides a novel perspective from which to examine the history of a region which has until now barely entered the focus of historical research. He thereby highlights the enduring relevance of the supposedly peripheral Caprivi and its military, scientific and environmental histories for efforts to develop a deeper understanding of the ways in which apartheid South Africa exerted state power.