Alpha-Glucosidases from Aspergillus niger, pig serum, ungerminated rice, buckwheat, and sugar beet seeds (but not from brewers' yeast or honeybee) were found to catalyze the hydration of D-glucal. Each reactive alpha-glucosidase, incubated with D-glucal in D2O, was shown to protonate (deuteriate) this prochiral substrate from above its re face, i.e., from a direction opposite that assumed for protonating alpha-D-glucosidic substrates. At the same time, D-glucal hydration catalyzed by three of the alpha-glucosidases that acted rapidly enough in D2O to determine product configuration was found to yield 2-deoxy-D-glucose of the same specific (alpha-) configuration as the D-glucose produced from alpha-D-glucosidic substrates. These findings substantially extend those reported earlier for the hydration of D-glucal by one (Candida tropicalis) alpha-glucosidase preparation. Together with other recent results, they suggest that the process of catalysis by alpha-glucosidases (and perhaps glycosylases in general) may comprise two separate and separately controlled parts, namely, a "plastic" phase concerned with substrate protonation and a substrate-unrelated "conserved" phase concerned with the creation of product configuration. In contrast to the alpha-glucosidases, three "inverting" exo-alpha-glucanases (Arthrobacter globiformis glucodextranase; Rhizopus niveus and Paecilomyces varioti glucoamylase) were found to protonate D-glucal from below its si face. Further, whereas the catalysis of D-glucal hydration by the alpha-glucosidases was intensively inhibited by excess substrate, that promoted by the exo-glucanases showed no detectable substrate inhibition.


Complexity, division, mistrust, and "process paralysis" can thwart leaders and others when they tackle local challenges. In Democracy as Problem Solving, Xavier de Souza Briggs shows how civic capacity -- the capacity to create and sustain smart collective action -- can be developed and used. In an era of sharp debate over the conditions under which democracy can develop while broadening participation and building community, Briggs argues that understanding and building civic capacity is crucial for strengthening governance and changing the state of the world in the process. More than managing a contest among interest groups or spurring deliberation to reframe issues, democracy can be what the public most desires: a recipe for significant progress on important problems. Briggs examines efforts in six cities, in the United States, Brazil, India, and South Africa, that face the millennial challenges of rapid urban growth, economic restructuring, and investing in the next generation. These challenges demand the engagement of government, business, and nongovernmental sectors. And the keys to progress include the ability to combine learning and bargaining continuously, forge multiple forms of accountability, and find ways to leverage the capacity of the grassroots and what Briggs terms the "grasstops," regardless of who initiates change or who participates over time. Civic capacity, Briggs shows, can -- and must -- be developed even in places that lack traditions of cooperative civic action.


Abstract This article describes a software implementation dealing with the ancient Basque musical tradition of the txalaparta. The research is different from earlier studies of the txalaparta in that, by digitizing the instrument and its performance rules, we have had to formalize and make explicit conventions that hitherto have been tacit knowledge of improvisational practice. Analysis through software development is an unusual case of musicological analysis as it demands clarity and precision, and often requires multidisciplinary approaches to understand the studied subject. We have developed software in order to analyze and understand a practice that has received little musicological analysis. By expounding musical patterns and performers' behaviors that have hitherto been difficult to analyze, we reveal the social and cultural aspects of performance practice. The txalaparta is a two-performer instrument and the software produces txalaparta rhythms and plays along with a human player, while learning and adapting to the player's style. The system helps novices to explore the rules of the txalaparta and more-experienced performers to approach the instrument from a new perspective. In this research we have applied a user-centered approach, where feedback from players using the digital txalaparta was collected. This feedback allowed us to approach the reflective vision of txalaparta players and their thoughts on the results of our research.


The Travelling People constitute a Gypsy-like minority population in Ireland that has been a long-standing target of racism and assimilative state settlement policies. Using archival and ethnographic research, Jane Helleiner's study documents longstanding anti-Traveller racism in Ireland and explores the ongoing realities of Traveller life. Through analyses of constructions of Traveller origins, local government records, the provincial press, and debates of the Irish parliament, a history of local and national anti-Traveller discourse and practice in the independent Irish state is revealed and linked to the legitimation and reproduction of other social inequalities, including those of class, gender, and generation. Helleiner's research, conducted in the course of long-term residence in a Traveller camp, supports her historical analysis with an examination of how travelling, work, gender, and childhood become sites for the production and reproduction of contemporary Traveller collective identity and culture even as they are shaped by oppressive forces of racism. These phenomena are located within political struggles at local, national, and European levels.


Synthesis, properties and reactions of two isomeric dipyrido-1,4-dithiins of the C-2h and C-2v symmetry are described. Their structure detennination and identification are based on spectroscopic methods (H-1 and C-13 NMR, HETCOR, gHMBC and MS), physical properties (mp and R-f), the 1,4-dithiin ring opening reactions and finally X-Ray analysis. A very unusual type of the Smiles rearrangement (S -> S, the pyridyl group migrates from one sulfur atom to another) during the 1,4-dithiin ring opening with sodium methanethiolate enabling isomerization of dithiin with the C-2h symmetry to dithiin with the C-2v symmetry is found.


Foreword (Gurdev S. Khush). Preface (Manjit S. Kang and P.M. Priyadarshan). Part 1: General Topics. Chapter 1: Crop Breeding Methodologies: Classic and Modern (Manjit S.Kang, Prasanta K. Subudhi, Niranjan Baisakh, and P.M. Priyadarshan). Chapter 2: Genetic Enhancement of Polypoid Crops Using Tools of Classical Cytogenetics and Modern Biotechnology (Prem P. Jauhar). Chapter 3: Biofortification: Breeding Micronutrient-Dense Crops (Wolfgang H. Pfeiffer and Bonnie McClafferty). Chapter 4:Bioinformatics and Plant Genomics for Staple Crops Improvement (David Edwards). Part 2: Cereals and Oil/Protein Crops. Chapter 5: Breeding Spring Bread Wheat for Irrigated and Rainfed Production Systems of the Developing World (Ravi P. Singh and Richard Trethowan). Chapter 6: Rice Breeding for Sustainable Production (Sant S. Virmani and M. Ilyas-Ahmed). Chapter 7: Barley Breeding for Sustainable Production (Salvatore Ceccarelli, Stefania Grando, Flavio Capettini, and Michael Baum). Chapter 8: Corn Breeding in the Twenty-first Century (G. Richard Johnson). Chapter 9: Soybean Breeding Achievements and Challenges (Silvia R. Cianzio). Part 3: Carbohydrate Suppliers: Rood Crops and Banana. Chapter 10: Breeding Potato as a Major Staple Crop (John E. Bradshaw). Chapter 11: Breeding of Sweetpotato (S.L. Tan, M. Nakatani, and K. Komaki). Chapter 12: Cassava Genetic Improvement (Hernan Ceballos, Martin Fregene, Juan Carlos Perez, Nelson Morante, and Fernando Calle). Chapter 13: Banana Breeding (Michael Pillay and Leena Tripathi). Index


Background Over 25% of the UK land area is covered by uplands, the bulk of which are comprised of blanket bog. This not only contains most of the UK's terrestrial carbon stocks, but also represents 15% of this globally rare habitat. About 30% of UK blanket bog is managed for red grouse by encouraging ling heather (Calluna vulgaris) with rotational burning, which has been linked to habitat degradation, with reduced carbon storage and negative impacts on water storage and quality. Alternative cutting is currently being pursued as a potential restoration management. However, the often used heavy cutting machinery could cause considerable compaction and damage to the peat surface. Two particular issues are (i) a potential increase in bulk density reducing water storage capacity (i.e., less pore volume and peat depth), and (ii) a possible reduction of the micro-topography due to cutting off the tops of hummocks (i.e., protruding clumps or tussocks of sedges). Methods We set up a fully replicated field experiment assessing cutting versus burn management impacts on peat physical and surface properties. Both managements reflected commonly used grouse moor management practice with cutting using heavy tractors fitted with load distributing double wheel and tracks (lowering ground pressure), whilst burning was done manually (setting heather areas alight with flame torches). We assessed management impacts on peat depth, bulk density and peat surface micro-topography which either included pre-management measurements or plot-level data for uncut plots. Total peat depth and bulk density in four 5 cm sections within the top 50 cm was assessed. Micro-topography was determined as the standard deviation of the height offsets measured over several plot transects in relation to the plot peat surface level at the start and end points of each transect. Results Despite an anticipated compaction from the heavy machinery used for cutting, the peat showed resilience and there was no lasting plot-level impact on either peat depth or bulk density. Notably, bulk density showed differences prior to, and thus unrelated to, management, and an overall increasing bulk density, even in uncut plots. However, cutting did reduce the plot micro-topography by about 2 cm, mostly due to removing the tops of hummocks, whereas burnt plots did not differ from uncut plots. Discussion Cutting is suggested as a suitable alternative to burning on grouse moors, although compaction issues might be site specific, depending on the nature of the peat, the machinery used and impacts at resting and turning points (which were not assessed). However, any observed bulk density differences could reflect natural changes in relation to changes in peat moisture, requiring adequate experimental comparisons. Moreover, where micro-topography is a priority, cutting equipment might need to consider the specific ground conditions, which could involve adjusting cutting height and the type of cutting machinery used.


The potential of the Arctic stratosphere to sustain the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs) is a key factor in determining the amount of ozone destroyed each winter, and is often measured as a 'PSC volume'. The latter quantity has been shown to closely follow a near‐linear compact relationship with winter‐averaged column ozone loss, and displays a high variability from monthly to decadal time‐scales. We examine the connection between meteorological conditions in the troposphere and the variability of lower polar stratospheric temperatures over the last four decades, and specifically, conditions leading to a high PSC volume. In addition to the well‐established connection between the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the polar vortex, we demonstrate the large influence of precursory disturbances over the North Pacific and the Far East, the region of maximum climatological upward wave activity flux. Namely, very high monthly PSC volume (in the top 12%) predominantly follows the development of positive tropospheric height anomalies over the Far East, which lead to a weakening of the background planetary wave trough, and lessened upward wave activity flux into the stratosphere. Precursory anomalies over the Far East are reminiscent of East Asian monsoon amplification episodes. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society


What is artificial intelligence? At its essence, it is another way of answering a central question that has been debated by scientists, philosophers, and theologians for thousands of years: How does the human brain - three pounds of ordinary matter - give rise to thought? With this question in mind, inventor and visionary computer scientist Raymond Kurzweil probes the past, present, and future of artificial intelligence, from its earliest philosophical and mathematical roots through today's moving frontier, to tantalizing glimpses of 21st-century machines with superior intelligence and truly prodigious speed and memory. Lavishly illustrated and easily accessible to the nonspecialist, The Age of Intelligent Machines provides the background needed for a full understanding of the enormous scientific potential represented by intelligent machines and of their equally profound philosophic, economic, and social implications. It examines the history of efforts to understand human intelligence and to emulate it by building devices that seem to act with human capabilities. Running alongside Kurzweil's historical and scientific narrative, are 23 articles examining contemporary issues in artificial intelligence by such luminaries as Daniel Dennett, Sherry Turkle, Douglas Hofstadter, Marvin Minsky, Seymour Papert, Edward Feigenbaum, Allen Newell, and George Gilder. Raymond Kurzweil is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Kurzweil Applied Intelligence, Kurzweil Music Systems, and the Kurzweil Reading Machines division of Xerox. He was the principal developer of the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind and other significant advances in artificial intelligencetechnology.


Microscopic growth processes associated with GaN/GaAs molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) are examined through the introduction of a first-order kinetic model. The model is applied to the electron cyclotron resonance microwave plasma-assisted MBE (ECR-MBE) growth of a set of delta-GaNyAs1–y/GaAs strained-layer superlattices that consist of nitrided GaAs monolayers separated by GaAs spacers, and that exhibit a strong decrease of y with increasing T over the range 540–580 °C. This y(T) dependence is quantitatively explained in terms of microscopic anion exchange, and thermally activated N surface-desorption and surface-segregation processes. N surface segregation is found to be significant during GaAs overgrowth of GaNyAs1–y layers at typical GaN ECR-MBE growth temperatures, with an estimated activation energy Es ~ 0.9 eV. The observed y(T) dependence is shown to result from a combination of N surface segregation/desorption processes.


Several internal wavelength locker schemes for 10 Gbps electro-absorption modulated laser EML) module were reviewed. 10 Gbps EML modules with simple and robust internal wavelength ockers for metro dense WDM application were successfully demonstrated. The wavelength aging ver 2000 hours was done at elevated temperature of 7 $0^{\circ}C$ . The average wavelength drift of 10 modules was measured to be about $\pm$ 5 pm. These modules can be successfully applied to the 0 Gbps DWDM systems with 50 ㎓ channel spacing.


Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a major orchestrator of exercise-induced brain plasticity and circulating (peripheral) BDNF may have central effects. Approximately 99% of circulating BDNF is platelet-bound, and at rest ~30% of circulating platelets are stored in the spleen. Interestingly, forearm handgrip exercise significantly elevates sympathetic outflow and has been shown to induce splenic constriction, suggesting that small muscle mass exercise could stand as a viable strategy for increasing circulating BDNF; however, the BDNF response to handgrip exercise is currently unknown. Purpose: This study examined BDNF and platelet responses to short-duration maximal (ME) and prolonged submaximal (SE) effort handgrip exercise. Methods: Healthy males (n = 18; 21.4 ± 2.1 years, BMI 25.0 ± 1.0 kg/m2) performed 10 min of ME and 30 min of SE. Blood was sampled for the determination of serum BDNF and platelet count at rest and during the last minute of exercise. Results: Compared to rest, serum BDNF significantly increased during ME (21.2%) and SE (11.2%), which displayed a non-significant trend toward an intensity-dependent response. Platelets increased in an intensity-dependent fashion compared to rest with an 8.0% increase during ME and 3.1% during SE, and these responses were significantly correlated with diastolic blood pressure responses to handgrip exercise. Further, the amount of BDNF per platelet significantly increased compared to rest during ME (13.4%) and SE (8.7%). Conclusions: Handgrip exercise evokes significant increases in serum BDNF and platelets, implicating splenic constriction as a key mechanism and confirming efficacy of this exercise model for elevating circulating BDNF.


Objective: To determine the within- and between-session reliability of ultrasonography and imaging analysis for measuring muscle architecture of the vastus lateralis (VL) and gastrocnemius medialis (GM) in males who play recreational sport.

Methods: Twelve (n=12) males who regularly engage in recreational sport (age: 26.83 ± 4.45 years) participated in this study. Two experimental sessions were conducted 7 days apart. Muscle thickness (MT), pennation angle (Pang) and fascicle length (Lf) for both muscles were determined. Two ultrasound images of the VL were recorded with participants lying supine with the knee at 30o flexion and a further two images were obtained following a 20 min interval. One week later, two images were recorded during the second session. This process was repeated for the GM with participants lying prone with their muscles relaxed and ankle joint in a neutral position (90˚).

Results: The within- and between-session minimum detectable changes were: VL MT=0.16 cm, 0.12 cm; VL Pang=0.76˚, 0.99˚; VL Lf=0.84 cm, 0.94 cm; GM MT=0.08 cm, 0.11 cm; GM Pang=0.97˚, 1.45˚; GM Lf=0.36 cm, 0.50 cm, respectively. Other reliability statistics included were intra-class correlation coefficients, coefficient of variation and typical error which also expressed high levels of reliability.

Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that B-mode ultrasonography can be used in confidence by novice radiographers when investigating changes in muscle architecture in males who regularly engage in recreational sport. The reliability statistics reported in this study can be used by researchers for sample size estimation in future studies.


This study provides alternative estimates of the costs of greenhouse gas abatement through 2050 that would be necessary to limit CO2 atmospheric concentrations to approximately 450 parts per million and limiting warming to 2°C. Specific estimates are provided for 25 major economies (with the European Union as a single economy). Business as usual baselines are first developed, based on US Department of Energy projections through 2030 and on maintenance of country-specific trends in GDP growth, energy efficiency growth, and carbon-efficiency of energy growth thereafter. The central policy simulation then involves a "Copenhagen Convergence" path, in which major economies meet their Copenhagen (December 2009) pledges for 2020, and thereafter emissions per capita decline along a path that by 2050 results in equal per capita emissions in all countries. Three abatement cost functions are used for calculating the resulting abatement costs: a model based on McKinsey & Co. estimates for 2030; the Nordhaus RICE model cost functions; and a set of summary cost regressions calculated from the Stanford Energy Modeling Forum (EMF-22) survey of abatement models. It is found that abatement costs should be moderate, reaching about one-fourth to two-thirds of one percent of GDP by 2030 and 1 to 2 percent of GDP by 2050. Costs can be reduced by international trading, but by less than generally perceived. A more ambitious early start on abatement than pledged at Copenhagen could reduce full-period costs. The study calculates corresponding magnitudes of investment for abatement as well as adaptation costs for developing countries, and identifies a benchmark of about $80 billion annually (excluding China) by 2020, lending support to the $100 billion target pledged for industrial country financial support by that year.


The aim of this study was to investigate the findings of clinical, haemotological, biochemical, histopathological, mycological and urine analyses and to evaluate the efficiency of itraconazole treatment in dogs experimentally infected with Aspergillus fumigatus. In this study, 25 healthy male dogs were used. The animals were divided into 3 groups: group I (control), group II (infected) and group III (treatment) consisting of 5, 10 and 10 dogs, respectively. Cyclophosphamide was injected into the dogs of groups II and III before the inoculation of A. fumigatus via intravenous (i.v.) route. Clinical findings of aspergillosis were developed after the second day following A. fumigatus inoculation. Three dogs died in group II. On the seventh day after the inoculation of the agent (PI), lymphocytosis, monocytosis, granulocytosis and leucocytosis were determined in groups II and III. However, the percentage of lymphocytes in white blood cells decreased. The red blood cell and platelet counts, haemoglobin and haematocrit values, glucose concentrations and the specific gravity of urine decreased while serum alkaline phosphatase activity, urea nitrogen, total protein, globulin, magnesium and phosphorus concentrations increased. Haematuria was observed in all dogs, and proteinuria, glucosuria and ketonuria were observed in some of them. Leucocyte and erythrocyte counts increased in the urine sediment. Aspergillus fumigatus was isolated from the urine, nasal swabs, lungs, kidney, liver, heart, spleen, nasal concha and lymphoid nodules of some of the dogs, while the hyphae of the agent and granulomatous inflammation were observed only in the lungs and kidneys by histopathological examination. The treatment of the animals started on day 10 PI. Itraconazole, at 5 mg/kg body weight per day, was orally administered for 6 weeks. Four dogs died during the treatment period. At the end of the experiment, all of the clinical signs in the 6 surviving dogs had improved except for exophtalmus, miosis, an absence of pupillary reflexes and blindness in 2 dogs. Haematological, biochemical and urine analysis findings returned to close to normal values. It was determined that itraconazole treatment was effective in 6 dogs.


Glioblastoma multiforme is a fatal malignancy of the central nervous system, demanding new methods of treatment. The combination of a calmodulin antagonist with bleomycin has shown synergistic activity in several preclinical models and has been evaluated in a Phase I clinical trial. Since phenothiazines reach high concentrations in the central nervous system, and bleomycin has been reported to have antitumoral activity as well, we studied this combination in a Phase II clinical trial. In addition, we purified calmodulin from normal brain and malignant gliomas to determine its biochemical and pharmacological characteristics. Seventeen patients were entered onto this study and all were evaluable. There were no partial or complete responses. There was one case of fatal pulmonary toxicity in a patient showing an objective tumor response. Otherwise, the treatment was well tolerated. Calmodulin purified from the normal brain and gliomas of patients undergoing resection was identical to each other and to calmodulin prepared from rat cerebrum and glioma. These characteristics included elution from a TSK phenyl high pressure liquid chromatography column, migration on 16% sodium dodecyl sulfate gels, amino acid composition, and inhibition by drugs. Therefore, the failure of this combination therapy was not due to a difference in human glioma calmodulin as compared to previously reported studies with calmodulin from murine sources.


Diabetes is a major metabolic disease of global concern. Ethanolic extract of Corchorus olitorius leaf was investigated for antidiabetic activity in alloxan-induced diabetic rats. A total of thirty-six albino rats ( Rattus norvegicus ) with body weight 150.50 (cid:1) 10.50 g were randomly selected into six groups (A – F). Group A animals were non-diabetic and received 0.5 mL distilled water, groups B, C, D, E and F were made diabetic by admin- istration of alloxan monohydrate (150 mg/kg, body weight i.p). Group B was diabetic untreated, group C was diabetic and treated with glibenclamide, while groups D, E and F received the ethanolic extract of C. olitorius leaf at a dose of 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg and 800 mg/kg body weight respectively. Phytochemical screening showed the presence of flavonoids, tannins, saponins, phlobatannin anthraquinones, phenol and cardiac glycoside and saponin. The blood glucose of the alloxanized rats after 72 hours which ranged from 17.30 – 25.33 mmol/L were significantly (p < 0.05) and progressively reduced in treated groups which compared favorably with the standard drug group. The signifi- cantly (p < 0.05) elevated levels of serum and liver bilirubin (direct and total), transaminases (AST and ALT), alkaline phosphatase, urea, creatinine, total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-C, as well as reduced levels of total protein, globulin, albumin and HDL-C in the diabetic untreated rats were normalized upon treatment with ethanolic extract of C. olitorius leaf. These results suggest that the ethanolic extract of C. olitorius leaf possesses antihyperglycemic property with no major side effect hence it could be considered safe for the management of diabetes.


This paper presents the development of the Complementary Feeding Utility Index (CFUI), a composite index aimed to measure adherence to infant feeding guidelines. Through an axiomatic characterization this paper shows the advantages in using the CFUI are the following: it avoids the use of arbitrary cut-offs, and by converting observed diet preferences into utilities, summing the score is meaningful. In addition, as the CFUI is designed to be scored continuously, it allows the transition from intake of beneficial foods (in low quantities) and intake of detrimental foods (in high quantities) to be more subtle. The paper first describes the rationale being the development of the CFUI and then elaborates on the methodology used to develop the CFUI, including the process of selecting the components. The methodology is applied to data collected from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children to show the advantages of the CFUI over traditional diet index approaches. Unlike traditional approaches, the distribution of the CFUI does not peak towards mean value but distributes evenly towards the tails of the distribution.


The pace of retail change has recently been accelerated by developments in technology. Multimedia and virtual reality - the "interactive technologies" - in particular, provide retailers with new productivity tools that have the potential to deliver competitive advantage. One of the areas of greatest retailer interest has been within the consumer durable and DIY sectors, which provide the focus of this research. This research obtains the expected future rate of the diffusion of interactive technology at the customer interface in the DIY, fitted furniture, brown and white goods sectors, using a modified Delphic poll and a forecasting procedure derived from an expanded version of the Bass model. Although the three expert types polled - academics, retailers and technology providers - did not concur completely, there was agreement that the diffusion of such technologies is imminent, and that the elements under consideration play an important role in these forecasts, as well as the type of panellist providing the predictions. Managerial implications of the forecasts are discussed, and the merit of the forecasting technique developed is explored.


The article examines the links between paramilitary groups and the Colombian state within a context of pervasive violence. Colombia represents a particularly interesting case as high-intensity violence is accompanied by the preservation of a relatively strong institutional framework. Most interpretations of this relationship consider it to be either a sign of state weakness or a centralized strategy to outsource violence. Taking a different stance, the paper argues that the existence of paramilitary groups compels us to analyze government through practices vis-à-vis the treatment of violence. A policy linking private security and counterinsurgency, crafted in the early 1990s and known as Convivir, provides an illustration of this approach.


Understanding writing as a performative material practice, this paper highlights the "imperative" as a strategy to enhance writing practices in our classrooms and academic workshops. Drawing on posthuman theories and intra-active relationships, it describes how performative arts-based writing can provide a way to engage with the human and nonhuman, the embodied, sensory elements of our writerly worlds. Employing a critical collaborative autoethnographic methodology, the two authors provide a narrative account of a year as two research Fellows in a university exploring writing as a method of inquiry through designing and implementing a series of performative arts-based writing activities.


The Malaysian oil palm industry contributes immensely to the nation's economy. In 2013 alone the export revenue of palm products reached RM 61.36 billion. The industry is constantly asked to prove the sustainability of its products. Currently, carbon footprint is such a catchphrase in the world that it has become a must for responsible producers to quantify their carbon footprint. The next catchphrase in the environmental front is water footprint. In view of this, there is an imminent need for the oil palm industry to be accountable for its water consumption. This study has a cradle-to-gate system boundary which starts at the oil palm nursery and ends in the palm oil mill. It covers the water footprint of the production of oil palm seedlings; oil palm fresh fruit bunches and the production of crude palm oil. The water footprint network, Hoekstra 2011 methodology is used to determine the water footprint. The functional unit for this study is 1 t crude palm oil (CPO) produced at the palm oil mill. At the palm oil mill, comparison was made for mills that practise dilution versus no dilution and allocation was carried out at the palm oil mill with palm kernel and palm shell which are considered as co-products of the production of CPO. Within the system boundary of the palm oil mill, the highest footprint comes from the blue water for the process. The grey water footprint for 1 t CPO increases when the biological oxygen demand of the final discharge standard decreases to 20 ppm as compared to 100 ppm. There was a reduction in the water footprint if the mills did not practise dilution. For the cradle-to-gate system boundary, the highest water footprint came from the green water footprint in the plantation for the production of fresh fruit bunch (FFB). This is natural as the oil palm is a perennial crop with an economic life cycle of 25 years and so it is quite natural to have high green water. However, this green water comes from the rain as the oil palm are rain fed and not irrigated. The contribution from nursery is very small. The best option for mills is to avoid dilution during process to obtain the best water footprint.


It is well known that in vitro storage lesions lead to membrane dysfunction and decreased number of functional erythrocytes. As erythrocytes get older, in storage media as well as in peripheral circulation, they undergo a variety of biochemical changes. In our study, the erythrocytes with different age groups in citrate phosphate dextrose adenine-formula 1 (CPDA-1) storage solution were used in order to investigate the possible effect of gender factor on oxidative damage. Oxidative damage biomarkers in erythrocyte membranes such as ferric reducing antioxidant power, pro-oxidant-antioxidant balance, protein-bound advance glycation end products, and sialic acid were analyzed. Current study reveals that change in membrane redox status during blood-bank storage condition also depends on both gender depended homeostatic factors and the presence of CPDA-1. During the storage period in CPDA-1, erythrocytes from the male donors are mostly affected by free radical-mediated oxidative stress but erythrocytes obtained from females are severely affected by glyoxidative stress.


Abstract
 The increasing complexity of wildland fire management highlights the importance of sound decision making. Numerous fire management decision support systems (FMDSS) are designed to enhance science and technology delivery or assist fire managers with decision-making tasks. However, few scientific efforts have explored the adoption and use of FMDSS by fire managers. This research couples existing decision support system research and in-depth interviews with US Forest Service fire managers to explore perspectives surrounding the Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS). Results indicate that fire managers appreciate many WFDSS components but view it primarily as a means to document fire management decisions. They describe on-the-ground actions that can be disconnected with decisions developed in WFDSS, which they attribute to the timeliness of WFDSS outputs, the complexity of the WFDSS design, and how it was introduced to managers. We conclude by discussing how FMDSS development could address concerns raised by managers.


For evaluation of specific antenna arrangements in wireless communication systems we need physical channel models that take into account the directional domain. Here we propose a practical approach to wireless channel modeling in, particularly, mobile communication systems, by using an assumption that the channel can be divided into separate parts or regions that can be treated and modeled individually. The idea is that the antenna part of the channel is the part considered in the design of the user equipment and can be characterized by a single measurement of each design, while the propagation part of the channel can be characterized separately, independent of the user equipment, based on generic channel sounder measurements with, as far as possible, open areas around the transmitter and the receiver antennas. For more complex antenna environments we may imagine intermediate scattering regions of the channel model between the antenna parts and the propagation part, that perhaps can or cannot be handled separately, e.g., a mobile phone user body, an office desk, a vehicle etc. A first step in evaluating such a composite model approach is to verify the validity of link simulations were the mobile phone antennas together with the user can be handled as a super-antenna with its aggregate far-field pattern to be combined with a directional channel model in a classical way. This is presented in Paper IV and the method is in its extensible form referred to as the Composite Channel Method. It is found that this method, as we expected, work well for statistical performance evaluation of diversity or spatial multiplexing. An extension of the composite approach is outlined with an attempt to find a simple yet accurate directional scattering model for the user hand and body that still catch the proper influence of antenna efficiencies, fading statistics and correlation. Such an approach is tested and presented for a single antenna inside a car in Paper II. A full ray-tracing model as the one presented in Paper I and also used in Paper II can capture all important eects of a propagation environment also for multiple antennas systems to the price of high complexity of the geometrical model. In Paper III a first investigation of user influence on an indoor 2x2 MIMO link is performed based on a simple measurement setup and the diversity performance is evaluated. In Paper IV the first step of the composite channel approach is evaluated with respect to MIMO by channel measurements including user influence in static outdoor-to-indoor and indoor scenarios. The approach is verified for statistical properties such as antenna correlation and MIMO eigenvalue distributions. It is found that the presence of the user, apart from introducing hand and body absorption and mismatch that increases the path loss, also increases the correlation between the antenna elements and, thus, slightly decreases potential MIMO capacity. (Less)


Managing a company is a complex activity, and effective managers face many challenges from within and outside the organization. Management helps company to achieve its goals effectively and efficiently through planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Employee satisfaction is also important to the success of any business. Many managers believe it is important because they think satisfied employees will do better work. The aim of the study was to evaluate and analyze the general management practices of an employment agency in Alabang, Philippines and determine their relationship to employee satisfaction. Quantitative research method was used in this study. One hundred and ten employees of an employment agency participated in the survey. Questionnaires were distributed using closedended questions. Random sampling technique was used in this study. Descriptive statistics andcorrelation analysis were used for the data analysis. The general management practices of the company were good and the level of the employee satisfaction was very high. A strong positive relationship was found between general management practices and employee satisfaction. There was no significant difference in the level of employee satisfaction when the respondents' profile in term of age, gender, and length of work were considered. For further research, other factors that may influence employee satisfaction may be considered utilizing a larger population size.


What does music set in motion? What transformations in knowledge, understanding, wisdom, action and creativity does it engender? How might we recognise, individuate, encourage and interpret such transformations in value?
In the final chapter of The Sense of Music, and in an unpublished and more piquant version of the same chapter, Raymond Monelle returns to and pursues these kinds of questions, writing poetically and gracefully as always. However, it is not so much Monelle's specific conclusions that interest me in this essay, but the attitude with which he approaches and articulates them. I am interested in Monelle's anti- (or, more accurately, para-)totalising ideology, his lack of anxiety about "The Limitations of Logic" (p. 227), his care with "simple patterns and modest wisdoms" (p. 228), and his concern for the "confusing, provisional, [and] unthinkable, signalling a world without fixed points and a criticism without authority" (p. 232), for these all speak of a certain attitude towards music, its practices, and its objects that can benefit from further attention.
In order to gloss Monelle's musical attitude (and his attitude towards musical attitudes), this paper turns outwards to the thought of Mikhail Bakhtin. It attempts to imagine what Bakhtin might have said about music's ethical force, based on the broader philosophical aesthetics articulated in his early writings (Art and Answerability, Toward a Philosophy of the Act and Author and Hero in Aesthetic Activity). Operating in the wake of the neo-Kantian thought of Hermann Cohen, Ernst Cassirer and others, Bakhtin outlines an architectonics of aesthetic activity resting on a phenomenology of ethical activity but differentiated from it by the role of 'outsideness'. Setting in motion the passage between ethics and aesthetics, for Bakhtin, are the phenomenological motifs of 'love', 'silence', and 'loopholes', which configure outsideness in particular ways. Bakhtin's assessment of the ends of art is tied up with the development of 'phronesis', or practical wisdom, and the roles played by these three motifs in its articulation. Bakhtin's approach will be compared with Aristotle, Kant, and Nietzsche, by whom he was influenced, though it will be claimed that Bakhtin's particular approach to art and its role in human life is characterised by the special, and theologically driven, place he allocates to the motif of love.
The goal of this essay is to explain with Bakhtin's help how, according to Monelle, music responds to a certain kind of aesthetic engagement with its 'sense' and contributes to the development of a kind of wisdom as part of a full human life. From this essay will emerge a sense of what Monelle himself phrases in the closing lines of the unpublished final chapter: "theory as search, theory as speculation, theory as responsibility, theory as ambivalence, theory as humour, theory as unthinkable" (unpubl., p. 20).


Unaccounted mortality caused by discarding or pre-catch losses is a major challenge for fisheries management. In pelagic fisheries, a considerable proportion of catches may be lost due to intentional release of unwanted catch (slipping) or net bursts (fishing net tears due to the weight of the catch). Here we review and estimate ranges of discard and pre-catch mortality for two important pelagic fisheries, the Northeast Atlantic (NEA) mackerel and Norwegian spring spawning (NSS) herring, and explore the effects on stock estimates and catch advice. We show that mortality caused by discarding, slipping, and net bursts is unknown but probably corresponds to a considerable percentage of total registered catches. Including estimated unaccounted mortality into assessment models leads to underestimation of the stock levels by 3.7–19.5% and 2.8–6.8% for NEA mackerel and NSS herring, respectively, corresponding to up to several million tonnes of fish that die annually due to fishing without being landed. If discard and pre-catch mortality were eliminated, allowed catches could increase by 10–20%. We demonstrate that unaccounted mortality in pelagic fisheries may be substantial, affecting stock estimates and catch advice. This may undermine the sustainable management and efficient use of pelagic resources.


We discuss the probability distributions of Fourier modes of cosmological density fields using the central limit theorem as it applies to weighted integrals of random fields. It is shown that if the cosmological principle holds in a certain sense, i.e., the universe approaches homogeneity and isotropy sufficiently rapidly on very large scales, the one-point distribution of each Fourier mode of the density field is Gaussian whether or not the density field itself is Gaussian. Therefore, one-point distributions of the power spectrum obtained from observational data or from simulations are not a good test of whether the density field is Gaussian.


According to the 1999 Institute of Medicine report, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, medication errors are responsible for approximately 7,000 deaths annually. Said Raymond Muller, M.S., R.Ph., associate director of pharmacy services at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, "More people in the United States die from medical errors per year than die from motor vehicle accidents, breast cancer, or AIDS." Muller addressed a session at The Chemotherapy Foundation symposium, Innovative Cancer Therapy for Tomorrow, held recently in New York City. The symposium was sponsored by the Mount Sinai School of Medicine.