Non-specialists normally should not interfere in discussions on matters as complicated as the transmission history of the writings of David Joris (1501/02-1556), but a "research note" may allow even outsiders to bring small, hitherto unrecorded mosaic-stones to the attention of scholars who are fully initiated into the complexity of a certain field. Research on the life and teaching of Joris has made significant progress since a bibliographical foundation for such studies was laid by A. van der Linde in 1867) The twentieth century saw the publication of two monographs, one by Roland H. Bainton in 1937 and another by Gary K. Waite in 1990. The former marked the beginning of modern critical research on Joris; the latter represents its culmination thus far. (2) The remarkably versatile, multi-talented Joris was a very prolific writer. Although a selection of his writings has been published recently in English translation, (3) critical editions of the original Dutch texts remain to be done. In a 1991 article on the clandestine printers of the numerous works by Joris between 1537 and the early seventeenth century, Paul Valkema Blouw summarized the bibliographical treatment of Joris before and after van der Linde and provided an extremely helpful contribution toward a revised bibliography by analyzing the printing history of Joris' entire corpus, including the items listed by van der Linde as well as a number of printings that were reported only after 1867. (4) A future bibliography of Joris' works should certainly also include three manuscripts that came to my attention during a stay at the Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek Carl von Ossietzky, Hamburg, Germany. They were not included in van der Linde's bibliography because he listed only prints, the largest collection of which had also been found in Hamburg. (5) Although this collection of old prints was destroyed in World War II, most of the manuscripts were stored outside the city during the war and thus survived the fire storm. Due to the wide-ranging and sometimes obscure interests of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century scholars living in that once orthodox Lutheran city, the Hamburg manuscript collection is a treasury of early modern "heretic" texts. (6) Its holdings have been described in a number of excellent catalogues, from which, after comparison with the originals, most of the following information is taken. Researchers interested in the materials should consult the printed catalogues noted in the footnotes, which contain more detailed descriptions of these volumes and texts. The first of these volumes (theol. 1110) is in folio and has [3 empty] + 82 + [3 empty] leaves. It contains 64 letters, treatises and shorter texts, some of them in fragmentary state. The volume, written in tiny script in two columns per page and c. 50 lines per column, was dated into the sixteenth century ("after 1544") by Peter Jorg Becker. (7) The paper type suggests that it originated in the Netherlands. Several hands left correctional notes based on comparisons of the texts with other copies, which suggests that the volume was thoroughly studied in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the volume was bound in parchment (the watermarks in the blank paper leaves added at the beginning and the end of the manuscript point to a date roughly at the end of the first decade of the 16th century). This re-binding seems to be connected with the origin of a little known edition of Joris' letters. Most of the contents of the codex appeared in print at about that time among the 170 letters published in the fourth part of the third book of the Sendtbrieven. This rare print, a copy of which Becker located in the Wurttembegische Landesbibliothek (Stuttgart, Germany), was listed neither by van der Linde (8) nor by Valkema Blouw: Her Vierde deel van het | Derde Boeck | DER | Christelijcker Sendbrie= | ven: Jnhoudende vele verscheyden schoone | Godtlijcke Leeringhen ende Vermaninghen | met | onderrichtinghe op menigherley Vraghen ende Aenvech= | tinghen. …


"Imagining the Course of Life" offers a rich portrait of rural life in contemporary Southeast Asia and an accessible introduction to the complexities of Theravada Buddhism, as it is actually lived and experienced. It is both an ethnography of indigenous views of human development and a theoretical consideration of how any ethnopsychology is embedded in society and culture. Drawing on long-term fieldwork in a Shan village in northern Thailand, Nancy Eberhardt illustrates how indigenous theories of the life course are connected to local constructions of self and personhood. In the process, she draws our attention to contrasting models in the Euro-American tradition and invites us to reconsider how we think about the trajectory of a human life. Moving beyond the entrenched categories that can hamper our understanding of other views, "Imagining the Course of Life" demonstrates the real-life connections between the "religious" and the "psychological." Eberhardt shows how such beliefs and practices are used, sometimes strategically, in people's constructions of themselves, in their interpretations of others' behavior, and in their attempts at social positioning. Individual chapters explore Shan ideas about the overall course of human development, from infancy to old age and beyond, and show how these ideas inform people's understanding of personhood and maturity, gender and social inequality, illness and well-being, emotions and mental health.


Gait instabilities in older persons are considered as a risk factor for falls during walking. Walking consists of both a single and a double support phase within each stride cycle and the age-related changes in both gait kinematics and weight transfer is phase-dependent. However, none of the gait stability measures suggested in the literature is able to indicate intra-stride changes in gait stability.One of the gait stability measures considered to be most valid is called local dynamical stability. Local dynamical stability is numerically defined by the reaction of the gait dynamics to a small perturbation. Local dynamical stability assumes that the structure of the gait dynamics does not change according to transitions between single and double support phase. However, models of the gait dynamics of the single and double support phases define structurally different gait dynamics for these phases. The aim of the present thesis is therefore to develop and assess the intra-stride changes in structure and local dynamical stability of the gait dynamics of young and healthy older adults for different gait speeds.The results indicated that both the structure and local dynamical stability had a characteristic change within the stride cycle for both young and healthy older adults and across different gait speeds. The gait dynamics of the older persons decoupled more in unloading of the stance leg during the double support phase making the gait kinematics more local dynamically unstable in this particular phase compared with the young persons. The suggested assessment of intra-stride changes in the structure and intrinsic stability properties of the gait dynamics introduces more detailed measures of gait stability able to identify changes in the gait stability in particular phases of the stride cycle. These measures might be of value for early fall risk detection and detection of gait impairments in older persons and patients with neurodegenerative diseases.


The proposed paper presents a simple and particularly efficacious Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) algorithm based on Silver Mean Method (SMM). This method operates by choosing a search interval from the P-V characteristics of the given solar array and converges to MPP of the Solar Photo-Voltaic (SPV) system by shrinking its interval. After achieving the maximum power, the algorithm stops shrinking and maintains constant voltage until the next interval is decided. The tracking capability efficiency and performance analysis of the proposed algorithm are validated by the simulation and experimental results with a 100W solar panel for variable temperature and irradiance conditions. The results obtained confirm that even without any perturbation and observation process, the proposed method still outperforms the traditional perturb and observe (P&O) method by demonstrating far better steady state output, more accuracy and higher efficiency.


Studies have identified that trauma experienced as a child directly affects your health later in life. In Sonoma County, one in four children have experienced two or more Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) before the age of 18. Twenty-two percent of Sonoma County adults reported experiencing four or more ACEs before the age of 18. With the high rates of ACEs in our community this fieldwork placement aimed to bring awareness and build community capacity to understand and address ACEs and foster resiliency. To raise awareness in our community we developed the ACES and Resiliency Fellowship Series, which trained 60 fellows in ACEs science and resiliency. To further extend outreach we held a presence on the national ACEs Connection networking website. This was a great resource and archive for Sonoma County to share best practices with other communities, as well as our own. To assess the impact and knowledge retention of this work, surveys were completed at all fellowship events. Future works will include potentially training another cohort of trainers, as well as engaging key stakeholders at the policy level to shift the question from "What's wrong with you?" to "What happened to you?"


Background. Modifiable factors in adulthood that explain the racial disparity in prostate cancer have not been identified. Because racial differences in utero that may account for this disparity are understudied, we investigated the association of maternal and neonate factors with cord blood telomere length, as a cumulative marker of cell proliferation and oxidative damage, by race. Further, we evaluated whether cord blood telomere length differs by race. Methods. We measured venous umbilical cord blood leukocyte relative telomere length by qPCR in 38 black and 38 white full-term male neonates. Using linear regression, we estimated geometric mean relative telomere length and tested for differences by race. Results. Black mothers were younger and had higher parity and black neonates had lower birth and placental weights. These factors were not associated with relative telomere length, even after adjusting for or stratifying by race. Relative telomere length in black (2.72) and white (2.73) neonates did not differ, even after adjusting for maternal or neonate factors (all p > 0.9). Conclusions. Maternal and neonate factors were not associated with cord blood telomere length, and telomere length did not differ by race. These findings suggest that telomere length at birth does not explain the prostate cancer racial disparity.


Collaborative public procurement has been gaining traction in recent years and could be considered at the spearhead of public procurement reform and innovation. The 2014 reform of the EU public procurement rules (mainly Directive 2014/24) has expanded the tool-kit available to contracting authorities willing to engage in joint or centralised procurement activities, and in particularly in cross-border procurement collaboration. In a push forward, and as part of the Strategy for a deeper and fairer single market in its larger context, the European Commission is developing a policy to facilitate and promote cross-border collaborative public procurement in the European Union. This paper adopts a sceptical approach and critically assesses the political, economic and in particular legal factors that can facilitate or block such development. To do so, it focuses on a case study based on a theoretical scenario of cross-border collaboration between centralised purchasing bodies in different EU Member States. The paper ultimately aims to establish a blueprint for future legal research in this area, in particular regarding the emergence of trans-EU public law.


Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects 25% of the population and can progress to cirrhosis with limited treatment options. As the liver secretes most of the blood plasma proteins, liver disease may affect the plasma proteome. Plasma proteome profiling of 48 patients with and without cirrhosis or NAFLD revealed six statistically significantly changing proteins (ALDOB, APOM, LGALS3BP, PIGR, VTN, and AFM), two of which are already linked to liver disease. Polymeric immunoglobulin receptor (PIGR) was significantly elevated in both cohorts by 170% in NAFLD and 298% in cirrhosis and was further validated in mouse models. Furthermore, a global correlation map of clinical and proteomic data strongly associated DPP4, ANPEP, TGFBI, PIGR, and APOE with NAFLD and cirrhosis. The prominent diabetic drug target DPP4 is an aminopeptidase like ANPEP, ENPEP, and LAP3, all of which are up‐regulated in the human or mouse data. Furthermore, ANPEP and TGFBI have potential roles in extracellular matrix remodeling in fibrosis. Thus, plasma proteome profiling can identify potential biomarkers and drug targets in liver disease.


The serine/threonine kinase Akt lies at a critical signaling node downstream of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase and is important in promoting cell survival and inhibiting apoptosis. An Akt inhibitor may be particularly useful for cancers in which increased Akt signaling is associated with reduced sensitivity to cytotoxic agents or receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors. We evaluated the effect of a novel allosteric Akt inhibitor, MK-2206, in combination with several anticancer agents. In vitro, MK-2206 synergistically inhibited cell proliferation of human cancer cell lines in combination with molecular targeted agents such as erlotinib (an epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitor) or lapatinib (a dual epidermal growth factor receptor/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 inhibitor). Complementary inhibition of erlotinib-insensitive Akt phosphorylation by MK-2206 was one mechanism of synergism, and a synergistic effect was found even in erlotinib-insensitive cell lines. MK-2206 also showed synergistic responses in combination with cytotoxic agents such as topoisomerase inhibitors (doxorubicin, camptothecin), antimetabolites (gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil), anti-microtubule agents (docetaxel), and DNA cross-linkers (carboplatin) in lung NCI-H460 or ovarian A2780 tumor cells. The synergy with docetaxel depended on the treatment sequence; a schedule of MK-2206 dosed before docetaxel was not effective. MK-2206 suppressed the Akt phosphorylation that is induced by carboplatin and gemcitabine. In vivo, MK-2206 in combination with these agents exerted significantly more potent tumor inhibitory activities than each agent in the monotherapy setting. These findings suggest that Akt inhibition may augment the efficacy of existing cancer therapeutics; thus, MK-2206 is a promising agent to treat cancer patients who receive these cytotoxic and/or molecular targeted agents. Mol Cancer Ther; 9(7); 1956–67. ©2010 AACR.


Older adults are at a high risk for falls and diseases that can be prevented or controlled by achieving the recommended daily amounts of activity as outlined by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2008). Despite this knowledge, older adults continue to be the least active demographic in the United States, not only placing them at higher risk for disease, but increased risk of falls and decreases in quality of life (Bean, Vora, & Frontera, 2004; Nelson, Rejeski, Blair, Duncan & Judge, 2007). The objective for this project was to implement a modified martial arts program for older adults over the age of 60, and determine its impact on physical performance measures and self-efficacy. Testing the working hypothesis that participating in a modified martial arts program increased strength, endurance, balance and self-efficacy of adults over the age of 60 achieved this aim. The approach to testing this hypothesis was to conduct a pre-post intervention study, where participants over the age of 60 were tested on the Sit to Stand, 8-foot Up and Go, Arm Curl, 4-point Balance Scale and Self-efficacy for Exercise Scale (SEE) before and after a 12-week modified martial arts program. The rationale of this research was based on preliminary findings that strongly suggested that martial arts programs have positive effects on participants, but studies had not fully addressed older populations or the modifications needed to make older adult training more effective. New findings in this regard provided further evidence of the effectiveness of a modified martial arts program in increasing the muscle strength, muscle endurance, balance and self-efficacy in adults over the age of 60. This project is significant in that it identified the extent to which martial arts training could be a safe, effective and engaging exercise opportunity, thereby encouraging greater participation in physical activity among older adult.


This thesis presents a novel biomimetic cochlea filter which closely resembles the biological cochlea behaviour. The filter is highly feasible for analogue very-large-scale integration (VLSI) circuits, which leads to a micro-watt-power and millimetre-sized hardware implementation. By virtue of such features, the presented filter contributes to a solid foundation for future biologically-inspired audio signal processors. Unlike existing works, the presented filter is developed by taking direct inspirations from the physiologically measured results of the biological cochlea. Since the biological cochlea has prominently different characteristics of frequency response from low to high frequencies, the biomimetic cochlea filter is built by cascading three sub-filters accordingly: a 2nd-order bandpass filter for the constant gentle low-frequency response, a 2nd-order tunable low-pass filter for the variable and selective centre frequency response and a 5th-order elliptic filter for the ultra-steep roll-off at stop-band. As a proof of concept, a biomimetic cochlea filter bank is built to process audio signals, which demonstrates the highly discriminative spectral decomposition and high-resolution time-frequency analysis capabilities similar to the biological cochlea. The filter has simple representation in the Laplace domain which leads to a convenient analogue circuit realisation. A floating-active-inductor circuit cell is developed to build the corresponding RLC ladder for each of the three sub-filters. The circuits are designed based on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistors for VLSI implementation. Non-ideal factors of CMOS transistors including parasitics, noise and mismatches are extensively analysed and consciously considered in the circuit design. An analogue VLSI chip is successfully fabricated using 0.35 μm CMOS process. The chip measurements demonstrate that the centre frequency response of the filter has about 20 dB wide gain tuning range and a high quality factor reaching maximally over 19. The filter has a 20 dB/decade constant gentle low-frequency tail and an over 300 dB/decade sharp stop-band roll-off slope. The measured results agree with the filter model expectations and are comparable with the biological cochlea characteristics. Each filter channel consumes as low as 59.5∼90 μW power and occupies only 0.9 mm2 area. Besides, the biomimetic cochlea filter chip is characterised from a wide range of angles and the experimental results cover not only the auditory filter specifications but also the integrated circuit design considerations. Furthermore, following the progressive development of the acoustic resonator based on microelectro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology, a MEMS-CMOS implementation of the proposed filter becomes possible in the future. A key challenge for such implementation is the low sensing capacitance of the MEMS resonator which suffers significantly from sensitivity degradation due to the parasitic capacitance. A novel MEMS capacitive interface circuit chip is additionally developed to solve this issue. As shown in the chip results, the interface circuit is able to cancel the parasitic capacitance and increase the sensitivity of capacitive sensors by 35 dB without consuming any extra power. Besides, the chopper-stabilisation technique is employed which effectively reduces the circuit flicker noise and offsets. Due to these features, the interface circuit chip is capable of converting a 7.5 fF capacitance change of a 1-Volt-biased 0.5 pF capacitive sensor pair into a 0.745 V signal-conditioned output while consuming only 165.2 μW power.


We present evidence for the acceleration of magnetospheric ions by reflection off two Alfven waves, launched by the reconnection site into the inflow regions on both sides of the reconnecting magnetopause. The "exterior" wave stands in the inflow from the magnetosheath and is the magnetopause, in the sense that the majority of the field rotation occurs there. The other, "interior" wave stands in the inflow region on the magnetospheric side of the boundary. The population reflected by the interior wave is the more highly energized of the two and appears at low altitudes on open field lines, immediately equatorward of the cusp precipitation. In addition, we identify the population of magnetosheath ions transmitted across the exterior Alfven wave, as well as a population of magnetospheric ions which are accelerated, after transmission through the interior wave, by reflection off the exterior wave. The ion populations near the X line are modeled and, with allowance for time-of-flight effects, are also derived from observations in the dayside auroral ionosphere. Agreement between observed and theoretical spectra is very good and the theory also explains the observed total fluxes and average energies of the precipitations poleward of the open/closed field line boundary. The results offer a physical interpretation of all the various classifications of precipitation into the dayside ionosphere (central plasma sheet, dayside boundary plasma sheet, void, low-latitude boundary layer, cusp, and mantle) and allow the conditions in both the magnetosphere and the magnetosheath adjacent to the X line to be studied.


Due to changes in the institutional environment, mainly the Law 11.241/2002 (SP), which limits the burning of sugarcane and favors the mechanization of its harvest, there is a new technological pattern in the Brazilian production of sugar and alcohol. The objective of this article is to analyze the reasons behind the adoption of the mechanized harvest in the sugar and alcohol sector of Parana state through field research (interviews and questionnaires applied during the second semester of 2007). The results show that the mechanization of the sugar cane harvest in Parana was due to market pressures, allied to other factors: scarce labor in the state, environmental and market pressures, change of the technological standards and costs imputed by Sao Paulo state, the leader in the sector.


This compelling book presents an unparalleled record of what happened after U.S. forces seized Baghdad in the spring of 2003. Army Colonel Peter R. Mansoor, the on-the-ground commander of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division--the "Ready First Combat Team"--describes his brigade's first year in Iraq, from the sweltering, chaotic summer after the Ba'athists' defeat to the transfer of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government a year later. Uniquely positioned to observe, record, and assess the events of that fateful year, Mansoor now explains what went right and wrong as the U.S. military confronted an insurgency of unexpected strength and tenacity. Drawing not only on his own daily combat journal but also on observations by embedded reporters, news reports, combat logs, archived e-mails, and many other sources, Mansoor offers a contemporary record of the valor, motivations, and resolve of the 1st Brigade and its attachments during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Yet this book has a deeper significance than a personal memoir or unit history. Baghdad at Sunrise provides a detailed, nuanced analysis of U.S. counterinsurgency operations in Iraq, and along with it critically important lessons for America's military and political leaders of the twenty-first century.


Abstract. Estuaries around Great Britain may be at heightened risk of flooding because of the simultaneous occurrence of extreme sea surge and river flow, both of which may be caused by mid-latitude cyclones. A measure especially suited for extremes was employed to estimate dependence between river flow and sea surge. To assist in the interpretation of why flow-surge dependence occurs in some areas and not in others, the dependence between precipitation and surge and between precipitation and river flow was also studied. Case studies of the meteorological situations leading to high surges and/or river flows were also carried out. The present study concerns catchments draining to the south and west coasts of Great Britain. Statistically significant dependence between river flow and daily maximum sea surge may be found at catchments spread along most of this coastline. However, higher dependence is generally found in catchments in hilly areas with a southerly to westerly aspect. Here, precipitation in south-westerly airflow, which is generally the quadrant of prevailing winds, will be enhanced orographically as the first higher ground is encountered. The sloping catchments may respond quickly to the abundant rainfall and the flow peak may arrive in the estuary on the same day as a large sea surge is produced by the winds and low atmospheric pressure associated with the cyclone. There are three regions where flow-surge dependence is strong: the western part of the English south coast, southern Wales and around the Solway Firth. To reduce the influence of tide-surge interaction on the dependence analysis, the dependence between river flow and daily maximum surge occurring at high tide was estimated. The general pattern of areas with higher dependence is similar to that using the daily maximum surge. The dependence between river flow and daily maximum sea surge is often strongest when surge and flow occur on the same day. The west coast from Wales and northwards has slightly stronger flow-surge dependence in summer than in winter, whereas dependence is stronger in winter than in summer for the southern part of the study area. Keywords: : Britain, dependence, sea surge, river flow, precipitation, mid-latitude cyclone, seasonality, time lag


Researchers endorse causal relationship between monetary growth and inflation. However timing as well as magnitude of response of inflation to monetary shock is open to question.Timing and the magnitude has serious monetary policy implications. Considering this the band spectrum regression applying conjugate analysis is used to examine the relationship. This estimation technique permits to analyze the relationship over different time horizons. Band spectral analysis isolates different components of variables. Low frequency components correspond to long term cycles in the variable, while high frequency components correspond to short term regular movements. Estimation results illustrate that money growth is positively and output growth is negatively related to inflation in low frequencies. Results also elucidate that only output gap explains inflation in higher frequencies.


Locating the positions and mapping the spatial information is of critical significance in the field of Precision Farming. Global Positioning System (GPS) is the main tool being utilized for this purpose but it is dependent on the satellite signals. Unfortunately these signals may get lost due to the blockage by canopy of the orchards or plantation. Inertial Navigation System (INS) can address this problem and support the non-availability of GPS signal for a short time. INS is capable of individually calculating the vehicle's position without any external references. However, its high cost and time dependent errors are its major drawbacks.
The research focuses on the mapping solution by INS only so that it can provide solution in the absence of GPS signal. Low cost inertial sensor (Xbow RGA300CA) was used for data collection and processing. Data Processing was done in Matlab/Simulink environment. A Simulink processing model is presented in detail to give an insight of the Strapdown INS Mechanization. Low pass filter and wavelet denoising model was used to assess the margin of improvement for noise filtering. Accurate GPS information was used as a reference of comparison.
The model was tested in the lab as well as in the field for its validity. Before going to the field the Inertial sensor was tested in the lab for yaw rate drift and for stationary drift. For kinematic field testing, inertial sensor with GPS was mounted on the vehicle to get the positions for straight trajectories up to 100 meters.
Results obtained are presented in detail. A gradual error growth was observed in the INS data and the sensor was found to be stable for short term only. Wavelet denoising was found to be better over short distances up to 40 meters while low pass filtering showed better performance over longer distances up to 100 meters.


Roux M. & Bohn J. M. 2010. — Revision of the genus Gephyrocrinus Kœhler & Bather, 1902 (Echinodermata, Crinoidea, Hyocrinidae). Zoosystema 32 (3): 425-437. ABSTRACT The species Gephyrocrinus grimaldii Kœhler & Bather, 1902 (Echinodermata, Crinoidea, Hyocrinidae) is revised using additional information on arm and pinnule characters, ontogeny and intraspecific variation. The validity of the monospecific genus Gephyrocrinus is confirmed and its affinities are clarified and documented. It is known in northeastern Atlantic only at depths ranging from 1420 to 1968 m. Among hyocrinids, Gephyrocrinus belongs to the group of genera including Calamocrinus, Dumetocrinus, Feracrinus and Ptilocrinus which all bear the first pinnule on the fourth brachial. Gephyrocrinus grimaldii is remarkable in having a constant pattern of regularly alternating muscular (synarthries) and ligamentary (synostoses) articulations along the middle and distal arm, and small irregular lateral plates all along the pinnules. The proximal inflation of the genital pinnules in Gephyrocrinus is built with numerous lateral plates never in rows as in Calamocrinus and Ptilocrinus, unlike the H-shaped plates characteristic of several hyocrinid genera such as Dumetocrinus, Feracrinus and Hyocrinus. Long series of successive brachial pairs are also frequent among the genus Hyocrinus. Here, we interpret this character as an adaptive derived character independently appearing in different clades rather than as a synapomorphy. Arm branching occurs exceptionally at the fourth brachial in Gephyrocrinus and Dumetocrinus, whereas it never appears before the eighth brachial in Calamocrinus. Using pinnule architecture as the most discriminating character, Gephyrocrinus appears to have the closest affinities with Calamocrinus and Ptilocrinus.


The purpose of this paper is to give an account and a rational reconstruction of the heuristic advice provided by Aristotle in the Topics and Prior Analytics in regard to the difficulty or ease of strategic planning in the context of a dialectical dialogue. The general idea is that a Questioner can foresee what his refutational syllogism would have to look like given the character of the thesis defended by the Answerer, and therefore plan accordingly. A rational reconstruction of this advice will be attempted from three perspectives: strategic planning based on the acceptability of Answerer's thesis, strategic planning based on the predicational form of the thesis, strategic planning based on the logical form of the thesis. In addition, we will provide an illustration of the potential of this heuristic advice as we apply it to the interpretation of a fragment from Plato, presuming that, in a similar way, a reading of this kind might be more generally applicable in the interpretation of the Platonic dialogues.


This audio paper draws on analysis of a case study within the field of artistic research. In summer 2018, the project sent poet Gunnar D. Hansson, composer Anders Hultqvist and ecological sound artists Stefan Ostersjo and Halla Steinunn Stefansdottir on a search for the sounds of the book Tapeshavet (Hansson, 2017). The work links to the author's Activation Series, which employs the artistic method of activation through a practice of performative responsivity to an environment. It therefore falls under the field of ecological sound art. Through an ecological approach, relations and behaviour are however reconfigured through the phenomena of 'performance'. The aim of this paper is to unpack the impact of such expansion of the performative body. This is done using new analytical tools, namely fleshy listening (Stefansdottir & Ostersjo, 2019) and multi-entity performance (Rawlings, personal communication, 2019; Stefansdottir, 2019, 2020). The paper is therefore set to bring forth a more fluid understanding of performance, the curatorial and of sound art. But also, to provide the field with analytical tools as well as a technique and conceptual stance that may be of use in our times, when we critically look at what making sound means in current and future conditions.

The paper references data/documentation from the case study, gathered on site in June 2018 by Anders Hultqvist, Stefan Ostersjo and Halla Steinunn Stefansdottir. Other sound sources (audio-video work, binaural compositions, sound files from installations) can be located in the bibliography list. In that instance it should be noted that improvisers and vocal performers in the installation Fjarilarna steg upp (2020) are Sofia Hardig, Felicia Konrad and Liv Kaastrup Vesterskov. The ambisonic documentation of that installation features also the sounds of multiple epipedobates tricolor, residing at the tropical palm house of The Botanical Garden, Lund, Sweden. In addition, the audio paper also includes a fragment from Concert of Sound of Mull (2019), performed by Maja Jantar, angela rawlings and Halla Steinunn Stefansdottir.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are composed of a large number of very small devices used for biomedical or environmental monitoring applications. These devices measure various natural processes at different locations, and cooperate in order to aggregate the information. In this paper we propose an accurate model based on the TinyOS simulator (TOSSIM) for wireless sensor devices, which can be used to precisely estimate the network performance or the power consumption of real-life sensor nodes. This model helps us to evaluate the impact on network performance of making changes in the node architecture or in the communication layers. To show the efficiency and versatility of our model we have tested it with the Sensor Cube nodes, developed by IMEC, and measured and tuned the power consumption for different Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols.


This work proposes a new method in order to simplify linguistic knowledge bases. The main goal consists of improving simultaneously accuracy and interpretability when it is possible, or at least ensuring a good trade-off between them, as well as consistency of the final knowledge base. It is used with linguistic rules which can be defined by expert, induced by data, or both of them. The simplification process is applied to the well known wine classification problem. The results are encouraging.


The following footnote should be included in this article [1]: This paper was commissioned and accepted for publication by David Ginley, who served as Editor-in-Chief of this journal from 2014-2018.


Methylglyoxal (MG) is formed in several metabolic pathways as products, which are highly toxic, and detoxified by glyoxalase enzyme system to lactate. It is a tricky molecule as it has dual role, on one hand its synthesis is increased in oxidative stress and on the other hand it is considered as inhibitor of cell cycle particularly in the rapidly proliferating cells. Considering these aspects of methylglyoxal, the current study was designed to establish the potential role of MG in patients exhibiting oral premalignant lesions and in patients with established malignant disease. The aim of the present study was to determine the serum methylglyoxal concentration in pa-tients with oral premalignant lesions (OPL) as well as in established malignant dis-ease and compare it with the healthy controls. Further to evaluate the oxidative stress and antioxidant status in these OPL patients in comparison with the healthy individuals. Methylglyoxal (MG) was determined in thirty two cases of oral precancerous le-sions and thirty two cases malignant cancer patients and compared their findings with thirty-three age/sex-matched controls. Antioxidants and MDA were analyzed to observe the oxidative stress in OPL patients and healthy subjects. The OPL patients were further grouped in two cate-gories based on the extent of oxidative stress and antioxidant status in those patients in order to delineate whether oxidative stress is the sole cause of elevated MG concentration or is there any other factor responsible for elevation in them. The premalignant and malignant cases were con-firmed by histopathological examinations. The MG levels were further compared with the pa-tients with established biochemical cancer markers. Methylglyoxal was determined by method of Racker. Superoxide dismutase, Catalase and Glutathione peroxidase was determined by stan-dard methods. The values were expressed as means ± standard deviation (SD) and data from pa-tients and control was compared using student's't'-test. Serum methylglyoxal levels was found to be significantly elevated (p<0.001) in oral premalignant lesions (OPL) and significantly de-creased levels (p<0.001) in established malignant disease patients compared to healthy controls. Further analysis among oral precancerous lesion patients was based on the oxidative stress and antioxidant status which were categorized into two groups. Serum malondialdehyde levels were significantly higher and antioxidants were significantly lower in (14/32) 43.75% (Group II) OPL patients where as no significant changes were observed in the remaining patients (18/32) 56.25% (Group I) when compared to controls. Levels of methylglyoxal and specific cancer markers in es-tablished cases of malignant disease are shown in Table 1II. Measurement of serum MG levels in suspected OPL- patients will help us to screen the subjects with or without risk of malignant transformation as decreased MG levels increases the risk of malignant change. These high risk subjects could be referred to specialized centers for further evaluation. This could be used as a screening marker which is simple and cost effective.


Abstract. The global extent of agriculture demands a thorough understanding of the ways it impacts the Earth system through the modification of both the physical and biological characteristics of the landscape as well as through emissions of greenhouse gases and aerosols. People use fire to manage cropland and pasture in many parts of the world, impacting both the timing and amount of fire. So far, much previous research into how these land uses affect fire regimes has focused on either individual small regions or global patterns at annual or decadal scales. Moreover, because pasture is not mapped globally at high resolution, the amount of fire associated with pasture has never been quantified as it has for cropland. The work presented here resolves the effects of agriculture – including pasture – on fire on a monthly basis for regions across the world, using globally gridded data on fire activity and land use at 0.25° resolution. The first global estimate of pasture-associated fire reveals that it accounts for over 40 % of annual burned area. Cropland, generally assumed to reduce fire occurrence, is shown to enhance or suppress fire at different times of year within individual regions. These results bridge important gaps in the understanding of how agriculture and associated management practices influence vegetation fire, enabling the next generation of vegetation and Earth system models more realistically incorporate these anthropogenic effects.


Objective The aim of this study was to determine the association of physical capability with health-related labor market outcomes among older workers. Methods The prospective risk of disability pension and long-term sickness absence (LTSA) of ≥6 weeks was estimated from physical capability on 5076 older workers (age 49-63 years) from the Copenhagen Aging and Midlife Biobank (CAMB). Physical capability was objectively measured through nine different tests (jump performance, postural balance, chair-rise, explosive muscle strength, maximal strength of the hand, back and abdominal muscles, lung capacity, and aerobic fitness) and linked to a high-quality register on social transfer payments among all Danish residents. Cox-regression analyses estimated the association of physical capability with risk of disability pension and LTSA. Results For all measures, low physical capability [≥1 standard deviation (SD) below the mean for each gender] was associated with increased risk of disability pension and/or LTSA, whereas high physical capability (≥1 SD above the mean for each gender) was not. A capability-response association was observed between the number of tests with low capability and disability pension and LTSA (P<0.0001) - with the risk-estimate for disability pension being 8.52 (95% confidence interval 3.98-18.25) when low capability was present in ≥5 physical tests. Population attributable risks analyses indicate that 42% of the disability pension cases were attributable to low physical capability whereas this was the case for 12% of the LTSA cases. Conclusions Using objective measures of predictors and outcomes, our study shows that low physical capability in midlife was associated with increased risk of disability pension and LTSA. The results indicate that increasing physical capability to an average level among older workers with low capability could potentially contribute to preventing >40% of premature exits from the labor market.


Anaerobic/aerobic (AnA) and completely aerobic (CA) laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactors operating on an acetate- and casamino acids-based synthetic wastewater were used to investigate the suitability of the AnA process for treating nutrient-deficient wastewaters in plants that have stringent effluent nutrient requirements. Of particular interest is the case where phosphorus (P)-deficient wastewaters with highly variable influent COD loading are being treated to meet both effluent TSS and P limits. At a 4 d mean cell residence time, AnA activated sludge had an approx. 20% lower P requirement than CA activated sludge. The difference between the end-of-aerobic cycle polyhydroxyalkanoate and carbohydrate contents of the sludges indicated that the AnAsludge used more influent carbon than the CA sludge for synthesis of non-P-containing storage products. The nitrogen requirements of AnA sludge were similar to those of the CA sludge. The AnA and CA SBRs were subjected to three different transient influent COD loading patterns that simulated (#1) daily COD Loading fluctuations, (#2) low weekend COD loading, and (#3) extended low COD loading periods. During the Loading Pattern #1 experiment, the average effluent soluble P concentrations for the AnA and CA SBRs were 0.4 and 1.0 mgP/L respectively, and complete removal of influent acetate was observed. During the Loading Pattern #2 experiment, the average effluent soluble P concentrations for the AnA and CA SBRs were 0.3 and 0.9 mgP/L respectively, but effluent acetate was detected during the first high COD loading cycle following the low weekend COD loading period. During the Loading Pattern #3 experiment, the VSS content of both reactors dropped sharply, effluent acetate breakthrough occurred, and effluent P concentrations exceeding 1 mgP/L were detected in both the AnA and CA SBRs. Based on these findings, the AnA process has potential as a technologically and economically superior alternative for wastewater treatment plants treating P-deficient wastewasters to meet stringent effluent TSS and P limits.

This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series

ISBN: 9781780404097 (eBook)

ISBN: 9781843396857 (Print)


Abstract. Conflicts between pastoralists and farmers in the Sahel mainly arise from competition over land and water resources or because of livestock damage to crops. Rather than being linked to larger environmental change processes such as climate change, conflicts are often caused by inappropriate zoning of land, governance and unequal power relations between stakeholders. However, conflicts may be affected by more short-term weather and resource information that guide mobility of pastoralists. In this paper, we therefore explore if improved weather and resource information and improvement in its communication could prevent conflicts or reduce their severity. Based on a survey of key stakeholders involved in dissemination of weather and resource information and studies on pastoral access to and use of information, we conclude that improved information may both reduce and increase the level of conflict, depending on the context. Communication of information will need to go beyond just the weather and resource information and also include the multiple options for herd movements as well as providing information on herd crowding and potential conflict areas.


Forest resources have so much benefits for human being. One of the example is environmental service such as ecotourism. Silimalima Waterfall is one of the ecotourism that can be found on Simaninggir Village, Marancar Districts, South Tapanuli Regency, North Sumatera Province. This waterfall needs some developments to be ready as an ecotourism that will give some benefits for local communities and to minimize the environmental damage that often caused by the tourism activity. The purpose of the research were to analyze the potential of Silimalima Waterfall and to analyze the problems along with strategies of Silimalima Waterfall development. The research was conducted by giving the questioner about internal and external factors to the respondents, local communities and the employers of Dinas Pemuda Olahraga dan Pariwisata of South Tapanuli Regency. Data results will be used to find the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Silimalima Waterfall as an ecotourism on South Tapanuli Regency. The result of this research showed that the feasibility percentage of  Silimalima Waterfall development is 73,72%, that makes it feasible to do the developments. The result of SWOT Analysis shows that Silimalilma Waterfall is on the first quadrant that means Siimalima Waterfall is on a very profitable position because the strengths could covers the weaknesses and the threats and also make it possible to take all of the opportunities. Keywords: Potency Analisys, Development strategy, Silimalima Waterfall, feasibility, SWOT analysis


The purpose of this paper is to build on a set of recent theoretical studies investigating the role of subjective insights and judgments in the resource-based view and to extend this important line of inquiry by offering a detailed assessment of how agents' knowledge and experience endowments systematically shape their subjective evaluations of business opportunities, and thus the firm's growth options. Our empirical analysis is based on a unique data set that combines experimental conjoint data and survey data obtained from 141 individuals. Our results not only provide evidence of heterogeneity in opportunity evaluations by individuals with different types of experience endowments (marketing, technology, management) but also demonstrate persistence of this heterogeneity. The findings provide a number of novel implications for strategy and entrepreneurship research.


Abstract Background and object Foix-Chavany-Marie syndrome (FCMS) is a rare type of pseudobulbar palsy, which is characterized by anarthria or severe dysarthria and bilateral central facio-linguo-velo-pharyngo-mastigatory paralysis with "automatic voluntary dissociation". We report on a patient who suffered a reversible FCMS following a spear gun trauma through the cranial base leading to right operculo-insular contusion. Case Report This 28-year-old lady attempted suicide by shooting a spear gun into the head through her right submandibular region. Major vessel injury was ruled out and the patient was taken to the operating room for shaft removal. Postoperatively, we observed the mouth half open, drooling saliva, inability to move her tongue, anarthria, bilateral facial weakness, and loss of the gag reflex. Yawning was otherwise preserved resulting in a clinical diagnosis of FCMS. Postoperative imaging demonstrated a right operculoinsular contusion. Symptoms were fully recovered after two years of follow-up. Conclusion FCMS is a rare and severe form of pseudobulbar palsy. Unilateral lesions are exceptional but should be recognized, as we presented. Generally, the outcome is moderate to poor but the occurrence in brain trauma can be associated with complete functional recovery.


Magnetic zero-flux current transformers are widely utilized to measure AC and DC electrical currents. To improve the AC characteristics between 10 Hz and 100 kHz, a method is proposed to evaluate adjustments in the circuitry; increase of the amplification in the AC feed-back circuit and introduction of an external coaxial read-out shunt resistor. The method is generally applicable and includes a coaxial current path within the entire reference system and traceability to national standards. The AC working range is extended from about 1 kHz to about 3 kHz. Outside the nominal AC working range, the scale factor variation is reduced from 45 % to 3.5% and the phase angle error offset changes from ca 5.8 μs to below 0.3 μs.


It is widely accepted that beach erosion occuning along the coastline of the east coast states of Peninsular Malaysia is caused solely by the large waves of the northeast monsoon seasons. However, this study, which monitored 9 beach profile stations before and after a NE monsoon along a 25-km stretch of the Kuala Setiu coastline showed that only 2 of the 9 stations -located on both sides of the Setiu
estuary river mouth - were eroded. The others showed accretion or negligible changes. Thus the assumption that the monsoon waves are the sole cause of beach erosion cannot be applied to all eroding coastlines. For some coastlines, theassumption may be only partly true. Wave refraction analyses show that, beside the large monsoon waves, the offshore bottom bathymetry and island shelters act as si~ specific factors either to help focus or disperse the energy of the monsoon waves to cause localized erosion or accretion. It is thus imperative that the modifYing effect of bottom topography and island shelters on monsoonal waves be considered if proper beach management policies and erosion mitigation measures are to be effective.


In recent years, zooarchaeology has started to move beyond purely economic interpretations towards a social zooarchaeology. In particular, these `social' interpretations have often concentrated upon Associated Bone Groups (ABGs), also referred to as `special animal deposits' or `animal burials', rather than upon the
disarticulated and fragmented faunal remains more commonly recovered from archaeological sites. Previous studies of these ABG deposits have largely been limited to a single period and a small sample of sites. The majority of studies have also been concentrated on the Wessex region and have not examined in detail the osteological composition of these deposits. The purpose of this thesis is to move
beyond these limitations. Therefore, it investigates the nature of ABGs from the Neolithic to the Medieval period for the contrasting regions of southern England and
Yorkshire. This has been achieved by collecting detailed information for ABGB from publicly available sourcesa nd analysing it utilising modern database technology. Overall, data from 2,062 ABGs have been collected, 1,863 from the southern England region and 199 from Yorkshire. Although the majority of previous literature concerns Iron Age deposits, in fact the largest proportion of ABGB from both regions comes from Romano-British sites. Furthermore, their nature is highly variable within and between periods and regions. The previous interpretation of these deposits is also an important factor. Currently, ABG deposits from prehistoric and Romano-British contexts are commonly viewed
as the results of ritual activities. I iowever, deposits of more recent date are more often considered to be the result of mundane actions. The review of previous literature shows that the interpretation of these deposits is changeable and linked to development in archaeological paradigms. This study collected data on ABGs published from the 1940's onwards, allowing these changes in interpretation to be tracked and, importantly, to review the links between the nature of the deposit and its interpretation. Results show that the interpretation of these deposits is influenced by key publications and current periodbased assumptions, with ritual interpretations often only given at a meta-level.F or
example, Iron Age deposits are seen as `ritual', yet this does not provide information on the actions and the associated meaning and agenda which created them. This thesis shows that each ABG is unique, and to apply a meta-level interpretation to all ABGs, even from the same period, would be inaccurate and inappropriate. A
biographical approach to the investigation of these deposits is developed, which leads to a more considered and informed view and can help us move away from a generalized interpretation. A biographical approach shows there is no standard type of ABG, which means there can be no standard interpretation. There are trends in the creation of ABGs, but each bone group is created by specific actions and it is the investigation of these individual events that moves us closer to the societies we wish to understand. This study has shown the value of not only utilising specialist data, but integrating such knowledge with other archaeological evidence. Use of this methodology will enable us to move beyond the perceived economic straightjacket towards a social zooarchacology.


Round 1 of the Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI) was built upon a strong evidence base of operational research, which had identified types of measures that can be effective in reducing burglary in local areas. A key objective of the RBI was to find out what works best where. Sixty three Strategic Development Projects (SDPs) were funded by Round 1 of the RBI. These projects were encouraged to develop innovative burglary reduction strategies. As a result, a wide range of interventions was implemented in a variety of contexts making use of different principles.

This paper presents a summary of one of these SDPs where the main intervention methods implemented were:

- Target hardening vulnerable properties
- Installation of alley gates
- Installation of electronic entry systems for multi-dwelling properties
- Improvements to street lighting
- Provision of access to leisure facilities for young people in the 'open' environment and in organised leisure facilities.
- Outreach work with local young people.


Hepatic steatosis is commonly seen in patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, and the prevalence is much higher prevalence than in the general population or in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Hepatic steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C can be due to alcohol consumption and host metabolic factors such as high body mass index (BMI), obesity, hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome and diabetes mellitus in which insulin resistance plays an important role. However, in genotype 3 HCV infection, hepatic steatosis can result from direct viral cytopathic effect. Demographic and clinical characteristics associated with hepatic steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C including older age, higher BMI, more genotype 3 infection, and higher mean serum levels of triglyceride, alanine aminotransferase and γ‐glutamyl transpeptidase. The clinical relevance of hepatic steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C includes a close correlation with hepatic fibrosis, and a poor response to combination peginterferon and ribavirin treatment. In addition, hepatic steatosis has been reported to associate with increased frequency of hepatocellular carcinoma in patients with chronic HCV infection. Whether life style modification such as weight reduction or adding an insulin resistance reducing agent such as metformin or thiazolidinediones combined with current standard peginterferon plus ribavirin treatment will benefit to the chronic hepatitis C patients with hepatic steatosis deserves further evaluation.


Surprisingly, on 27 December 2001, a storm named Typhoon Vamei formed near in Singaporean waters. An examination on the SSM/I-derived rainfall rates and air-sea parameters showed that significant higher latent heat release and air-sea energy flux during convective rainfall activities played a key role in the typhoon's growth. A quantitative analysis revealed that the energy flux from the ocean to the atmosphere and the latent heat release during the rainfall activities both increased significantly during the initial growth stage. However, the values rapidly decreased just before the storm reached typhoon strength. Separately, in contrast to a case that occurred in 1999, the total thermal energy calculated from Typhoon Vamei's formation was two times higher. Thus, despite a very weak Coriolis force in the equatorial belt, the special terrain of Borneo Island and narrow channel in the equatorial South China Sea caused a Borneo vortex via northeasterly cold surges, together with the accumulated energy was sufficiently strong enough to induce the formation of Typhoon Vamei.


Historically, American farmers have been identified as white, middle-aged, working- to middle-class, men who reside in rural environments to grow large expanses of corn, soybeans, or wheat. However, this dissertation questions this fraught representation of past farmers and introduces a new identity in contemporary American agriculture - Young Farmers. Usually, Young Farmers are first-generation agriculturalists, who hold small parcels of land, produce a diverse assortment of crops, and adopt items of rural material culture to better perform as farmers. Additionally, they believe their lifestyles and their existences are dependent upon interactions with their local environments and members of their communities. By focusing on these individuals, this study examines how American farmers, the environments they inhabit, the goods they produce, and the locations they distribute their products have changed, especially after the most recent Farm Crisis in the 1980s.To best understand these alterations, this dissertation offers an exploration of three farmers market locations in Michigan's Lower Peninsula to highlight and compare the social, cultural, environmental, and economic shifts occurring in the agricultural community. Arguably, farmers markets provide Young Farmers a space to meet prospective consumers and to distribute their products to them. Likewise, these site are a venue for Young Farmers to develop successful systems of community with other people involved with small-scale farming. Throughout this dissertation, I layer ethnographic and historical archive data with quantitative metrics, such as U.S. Census Bureau data to better explain demographic shifts occurring across Michigan's farming landscape. Additionally, I critically analyze images associated with past and current representations of individuals involved with agriculture to address how Young Farmers redefine themselves culturally and participate in methods of food and economic sustainability. By studying and understanding the codependence of the people and place who comprise farmers and farming communities in a representative location like Michigan, I recognize the relevance of the Midwest as a crossroads of contemporary American agriculture.


We study the task of smoothing a circuit, i.e., ensuring that all children of a plus-gate mention the same variables. Circuits serve as the building blocks of state-of-the-art inference algorithms on discrete probabilistic graphical models and probabilistic programs. They are also important for discrete density estimation algorithms. Many of these tasks require the input circuit to be smooth. However, smoothing has not been studied in its own right yet, and only a trivial quadratic algorithm is known. This paper studies efficient smoothing for structured decomposable circuits. We propose a near-linear time algorithm for this task and explore lower bounds for smoothing decomposable circuits, using existing results on range-sum queries. Further, for the important case of All-Marginals, we show a more efficient linear-time algorithm. We validate experimentally the performance of our methods.


Press releases have an increasingly strong influence on media coverage of health research; however, they have been found to contain seriously exaggerated claims that can misinform the public and undermine public trust in science. In this study we propose an NLP approach to identify exaggerated causal claims made in health press releases that report on observational studies, which are designed to establish correlational findings, but are often exaggerated as causal. We developed a new corpus and trained models that can identify causal claims in the main statements in a press release. By comparing the claims made in a press release with the corresponding claims in the original research paper, we found that 22% of press releases made exaggerated causal claims from correlational findings in observational studies. Furthermore, universities exaggerated more often than journal publishers by a ratio of 1.5 to 1. Encouragingly, the exaggeration rate has slightly decreased over the past 10 years, despite the increase of the total number of press releases. More research is needed to understand the cause of the decreasing pattern.


Utilizing a cross-sectional trade flow model of the type developed by Hans Linnemann and Jan Tinbergen, this study attempts to isolate empirically the major forces which have shaped European trade relations over the period 1951-67. We first estimate via the use of dummy variables the impact of the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) on member trade. For each year of the European integration period (1959-67), a crosssectional equation is estimated ancl used to test for the existence and approximate size of the respective integration effects. The equation is also calculated for the eight years prior to the integration period to obtain a clear picture of the forces which were at work before the formation of the EEC. Secondly, a base year equation is used to make projection estimates of the gross trade creation and European trade diversion effects of the two communities.


This thesis offers an explanation of the statistical
modelling of corporate financial indicators in the context where
the life of a company is terminated. Whilst it is natural for
companies to fail or close down, an excess of failure causes a
reduction in the activity of the economy as a whole. Therefore,
studies on business failure identification leading to models which
may provide early warnings of impending financial crisis may make
some contribution to improving economic welfare. This study
considers a number of bankruptcy prediction models such as
multiple discriminant analysis and logit, and then introduces
survival analysis as a means of modelling corporate failure. Then,
with a data set of UK companies which failed, or were taken over,
or were still operating when the information was collected, we
provide estimates of failure probabilities as a function of
survival time, and we specify the significance of financial
characteristics which are covariates of survival. Three innovative
statistical methods are introduced. First, a likelihood solution
is provided to the problem of takeovers and mergers in order to
incorporate such events into the dichotomous outcome of failure
and survival. Second, we move away from the more conventional
matched pairs sampling framework to one that reflects the prior
probabilities of failure and construct a sample of observations
which are randomly censored, using stratified sampling to reflect
the structure of the group of failed companies. The third
innovation concerns the specification of survival models, which
relate the hazard function to the length of survival time and to a
set of financial ratios as predictors. These models also provide
estimates of the rate of failure and of the parameters of the
survival function. The overall adequacy of these models has been
assessed using residual analysis and it has been found that the
Weibull regression model fitted the data better than other
parametric models. The proportional hazard model also fitted the
data adequately and appears to provide a promising approach to the
prediction of financial distress. Finally, the empirical analysis
reported in this thesis suggests that survival models have lower
classification error than discriminant and logit models.


The mean sea level (in a geocentric coordinate system) can beadequately measured by satellite altimetry. In order tomake the product useful for oceanography the altimetricsurface must be referenced to an equipotential surface,the geoid, to obtain the 'dynamical height'.This heigt can be blended with that of an ocean generalcirculation model to derive an optimal dynamic sea surface.Likewise optimal values for altimetry and the geoid can be found.The latter can be validated against results ofnew gravity missions CHAMP and GRACE.To understand local trends a separate but closely relatedstudy is performed. Hydrographic measurements and sea surfaceheight anomalies over the last decade are assimilated into anocean general circulation model using the 4DVAR technique.The ocean model conserves mass (salt) rather than volume.Steric expansion due to changes in temperature or salinityare taken into account.Results are presented for global and local sea level trendsaccording to mass changes, volume changes and redistributionby changes of the circulation pattern.Additionally a related hindcast experiment for 1950 to 1999will be analyzed in the same manner.


Previous research indicated a relationship between hemispherical dominance, the extent of schizotypal tendencies, and creativity. Little research has been conducted to assess the degree of schizotypy in nonclinical samples. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which measures of multidimensional schizotypy and predominant handedness could predict measures of creativity, as assessed by both divergent and convergent tasks. One hundred and twenty-six participants participated in a quasi-experiment involving tests of predominant handedness, schizotypal tendencies, and divergent and convergent thinking. Results suggest that individuals who scored high on a test for schizotypal tendencies performed better on divergent problem-solving tasks, as opposed to low scoring individuals who performed better on convergent problem-solving tasks. Furthermore, results suggest that there was relationship between handedness on divergent and convergent thinking. There was, however, a relationship between handedness (right hemisphere) on the degree of schizotypal tendencies with left-handed individuals demonstrating greater schizotypal tendencies.


We explore the misuse of pharmaceutical drugs in the Australian workforce, focusing on whether any differences exist between workers in particular industries or occupations. In terms of industry, being employed in hospitality is positively associated with pharmaceutical drug misuse, while being employed in finance, insurance and retail is inversely related. In terms of occupation, we find that being a labourer is positively related to misuse of pharmaceutical drugs, while being employed in managerial, professional, sales, clerical or administrative roles is associated with a lower tendency. Further analysis of occupational effects revealed that being in a blue-collar occupation, as a whole, is positively related to pharmaceutical drug misuse relative to white-collar employment. Moreover, being employed in higher status roles is associated with a lower likelihood of such behaviour. Our findings imply that particular workplace pressures, cultural norms and/or working conditions might be influential factors behind workers' drug misuse.


This paper examines the contracting relationship between a manufacturer and a retailer when the retailer has ex ante private information, and is subject to limited liability. The contract takes place over two periods. In the first period, the retailer can make a report of private information, or take an action, either of which influences the manufacturer's beliefs about the distribution of demand states for a final good in the second period. In the second period, the retailer sells the manufacturers intermediate good into a final output market according to a variable fee schedule. The interaction of the limited liability constraints with incentive compatibility in the second stage gives rise to an expected surplus to the retailer, which the manufacturer can extract with a franchise fee. The franchise fee can also be used as a screening device or a means of eliciting the efficient first stage action from the retailer.


Background Phenotypic features associated with genes and diseases play an important role in disease-related studies and most of the available methods focus solely on the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database without considering the controlled vocabulary. The Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) provides a standardized and controlled vocabulary covering phenotypic abnormalities in human diseases, and becomes a comprehensive resource for computational analysis of human disease phenotypes. Most of the existing HPO-based software tools cannot be used offline and provide only few similarity measures. Therefore, there is a critical need for developing a comprehensive and offline software for phenotypic features similarity based on HPO. Results HPOSim is an R package for analyzing phenotypic similarity for genes and diseases based on HPO data. Seven commonly used semantic similarity measures are implemented in HPOSim. Enrichment analysis of gene sets and disease sets are also implemented, including hypergeometric enrichment analysis and network ontology analysis (NOA). Conclusions HPOSim can be used to predict disease genes and explore disease-related function of gene modules. HPOSim is open source and freely available at SourceForge (https://sourceforge.net/p/hposim/).


BACKGROUND Cranberries are the most widely used nonantibiotic prophylaxis for recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI) in women; however, their efficacy still remains uncertain. Hence, this meta-analysis was aimed to assess the effectiveness, safety, and adherence of cranberry as a prophylactic drug for treating rUTI.
METHODS Literature search was conducted using PubMed, EBSCO, Science Direct, Scopus, Cochrane, and Google Scholar. Studies were screened for duplication, inclusion and exclusion criteria, and then reviewed by two authors independently. This included all randomized controlled trials of cranberry derivatives versus placebo and antibiotic prophylaxis. Cochrane risk-of-bias assessment tools were used to evaluate the quality of the study. Quantitative analysis was performed using the Review Manager 5.0 software.
RESULTS Nine studies were included. Among 1,542 participants, cranberry consumption reduced incidence of rUTI in women compared with placebo (p = 0.02). The subgroup analysis revealed that only cranberry capsules were superior to placebo (relative risk [RR] = 0.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.45–0.98), but not for cranberry juice (RR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.7–1.04). Antibiotics had better outcome than cranberry for rUTI (RR = 0.83, 95% CI = 0.70–0.98). Most of the participants experienced minor adverse events such as rash and gastrointestinal symptoms. There was also a good adherence rate, ranging from 90.3–99% monthly dose.
CONCLUSIONS Cranberry, especially cranberry capsule consumption, had a significant effect in reducing the incidence of rUTI compared with placebo, with good adherence rates, and minor adverse events. In contrast, although antibiotic use had a greater efficacy, it was associated with a higher risk of severe adverse events.


Local or regional development, economic, quality, social and environmental questions and problems have been addressed in national and regional policy, in the management of a municipal organisation as well as in the traditional or economic management systems of individual companies located in the region. What is common to all of these issues is that they are interdependent and in particular, they simultaneously affect or are affected by private companies, public organisations, research institutions, NGOs and citizen groups of the region in question. They call for a network approach and cooperation. In this paper, the possibilities for a regional network management system are discussed with a case study of waste management scenarios of the Satakunta Region, located in Southern Finland. A Regional Environmental Management System (REMS) extends the company-based and internally orientated environmental management system (EMS), such as the EU Eco-Management and Auditing Scheme (EMAS) or ISO 14001 standard, management model, beyond the boundaries of a single organisation. The ideal of this inter-organisational or network environmental management system is that regional private companies, public organisations, research institutions, NGOs and citizen groups, engage in a cooperative management effort in a regional context. The waste management system of the Satakunta region encompassing 12 regional municipalities is constructed into the main steps of REMS. There are many barriers to the implementation of such a diverse management system as REMS. But the results of this study indicate that, perhaps, the regional systems approach to many different municipalities and many different firms can better prevent problem displacement or problem shifting than more fragmented and isolated management efforts, e.g. of an individual firm or of an individual municipality. Two examples are given for this argument. We therefore suggest that the regional actors and decision-makers should develop and eventually construct a regional environmental management system for the Satakunta Region.


The discourse on responsible tourism, although not new, has been given a new lease on life in the wake of COVID-19. Before 2020, global tourism mobilities were unparalleled with seemingly little standing in the way of the juggernaut that tourism had become. Typically, tourism is seen through an economic lens – for the jobs it provides and the impetus it gives to the coffers of governments and the wallets of tourism dependent communities. This has not changed since the tourism growth model was spawned in the 1960s and has only intensified through to the era of overtourism. In invoking the term, New Era of Responsibility, it not too subtly suggests that for global tourism, the reframing that needs to take place is urgent and has been expedited by the pandemic of 2020. What is called for has been broached before and if tourism is to be the panacea of the catalogue of things ascribed to it, business as usual is surely not feasible. The call for an epoch where responsibility is assumed reverberates in talking circles that reference the Anthropocene as a time when the urgency to act with greater responsibility is now, more than ever, vital, given that the demands put upon the planet continue to intensify while the requisite attention needed to allow recovery and replenishment, and to stave off system failure, continually deteriorates. Tourism has become entrenched as a lifestyle phenomenon for many, and a livelihood source for as many more. The call for responsible tourism appeals to finding the balance between competing priorities and most importantly, to acknowledge planetary limitations.


The Mt. Bachelor Observatory (MBO) is a high altitude atmospheric research station that is located at the Mt. Bachelor ski area in Central Oregon. The observatory was started by Prof. Dan Jaffe in 2004. Over this time, his time at UW has made observations of ozone, carbon monoxide, mercury, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and other atmospheric constituents. The data for 2015 are reported in this dataset. MBO coordinates (summit building): Latitude: 43.9775 N Longitude: 121.6861 W Elevation: 2.74 km asl.


ABSTRACT This paper focuses on key characteristics of a small island economy in order to evaluate its economic development prospects. In particular, this paper has chosen to study the economy of the island of Guam, identified its key characteristics and investigated the economic development challenges it faces and the opportunities available to it. INTRODUCTION Guam is an unincorporated territory of the United States. It is an island located in Western Pacific and provides the U.S. with a strategic advantage to secure the defense and stability of the Asia-Pacific region. As an economy, Guam is small and undiversified but is endowed with natural resources and a multicultural labor force. After World War II, Guam proved itself to be a resilient economy. However, in the more recent past which was, and still is, characterized by increased globalization, Guam faced many factors that were beyond its control, which when combined with having to deal with natural disasters, took a toll on the well-being of its people. Of course, globalization and natural disasters are among many other challenges that Guam continues to face. The key is to find a balance between the positive and negative aspects of the economy and society and to transform these challenges into opportunities that will improve the current situation. Doing so will put Guam in a position of strength as it forges ahead in its pursuit of economic development. ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS An analysis of the environmental factors or conditions that are relevant to Guam's prospects for economic development is a good starting point for evaluating the challenges and opportunities that are available to Guam. In this regard, several descriptors have been identified to describe key characteristics of the Guam economy, with this paper focusing on the following six: (1) a small island economy that is relatively open that is (2) currently lacking economic diversification but (3) endowed with natural resources and a (4) multicultural society. It is (5) an unincorporated U.S. territory (6) located strategically in Asia-Pacific. Each descriptor presents Guam with challenges and at the same time opportunities. These descriptors and their implications for challenges and opportunities in economic development are discussed in the next section in turn. SMALL ISLAND OPEN ECONOMY Small Domestic Economy Guam's smallness can be measured in several ways. First is in terms of its small population, which is estimated to be around 175,000 people and, consequently, a small labor force of around 74,950, of which 64,970 (86.7%) are employed and 9,970 (13.3%) are unemployed based on the latest unemployment report in March 2011 (Guam Bureau of Labor Statistics). During stronger economic periods when labor demand exceeds the available labor force, Guam has supplemented its local labor force with those from the U.S., neighboring island that are freely associated with the U.S. ((i.e. the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of the Marshall Islands and Palau) and the use of foreign workers. Guam is also small in terms of economic size. The latest estimate of its overall economy, its Gross Domestic Product, GDP (also referred to as Gross Island Product, GIP) is for the year 2007 and valued at around $4 billion (U.S. Department of Commerce-Bureau of Economic Analysis, 2010). Combining estimates of GIP and population gives rise to per capita income, which is a measure of purchasing power, of around $23,000. Guam's small population and relatively lower per capita income have prevented many businesses from achieving economies of scale and producing goods and services to local residents at lower prices. Not surprisingly, the cost of living on Guam is high but not different from other small island economies, including Hawaii. Guam's lack of economies of scale also presents challenges to autonomous government agencies that provide utilities and is also an obstacle from current efforts toward recycling, which have required recyclable materials to be gathered and then shipped off-island for recycling. …


We present a new algorithm for scan registration of colored 3D point data which is an extension to the normal distributions transform (NDT). The probabilistic approach of NDT is extended to a color-aware registration algorithm by modeling the point distributions as Gaussian mixture-models in color space. We discuss different point cloud registration techniques, as well as alternative variants of the proposed algorithm. Results showing improved robustness of the proposed method using real-world data acquired with a mobile robot and a time-of-flight camera are presented.


This SEDA Special explores how the SEDA Professional Development Framework (SEDA PDF) can be used to award, structure and inform the CPD frameworks that may arise within organisations as a result of the current drive to professionalise and assure HE professional development. It provides a means of mapping SEDA PDF awards onto the UK Professional Standards Framework descriptors and uses a series of case studies to show how awards have been used by institutions, as well as how SEDA PDF has been applied to institution-wide CPD Frameworks. Whatever your role and context, this publication provides an invaluable tool for comparison and development. It ensures you are able to inform your work with a stronger understanding of the options and approaches available nationally through SEDA with respect to CPD.


Cloud computing is ubiquitous: more and more companies are moving the workloads into the Cloud. However, this rise in popularity challenges Cloud service providers, as they need to monitor the quality of their ever-growing offerings effectively. To address the challenge, we designed and implemented an automated monitoring system for the IBM Cloud Platform. This monitoring system utilizes deep learning neural networks to detect anomalies in near-real-time in multiple Platform components simultaneously. After running the system for a year, we observed that the proposed solution frees the DevOps team's time and human resources from manually monitoring thousands of Cloud components. Moreover, it increases customer satisfaction by reducing the risk of Cloud outages. In this paper, we share our solutions' architecture, implementation notes, and best practices that emerged while evolving the monitoring system. They can be leveraged by other researchers and practitioners to build anomaly detectors for complex systems.


SummaryCommercial methyl hydrogen nonandioate is of unsatisfactory quality for the preparation of queen honeybee methyl ester, methyl 9-oxodec-2-enoate. We give practical details for the synthesis from commercial nonandioic acid of half ester-acid chloride of high quality; this is converted to methyl 9-oxodecanoate using methyl aluminium dichloride. Queen bee ester was prepared from the ester enolate of methyl 9-oxodecanoate via methyl 9-oxo-2-phenylselenodecanoate. Details are given for careful purification at crucial stages, and the mass spectra and other spectra of a number of pure compounds are recorded.


Research into student experiences of e‐assessment has been neglected. Students' expectations and perceptions of e‐assessment have been under‐researched and their learning strategies are often unclear. This paper reports a qualitative study which investigated student expectations and perceptions of formative e‐assessment. Screen‐capture software was utilised to record students' on‐task actions during completion of a formative e‐assessment. The captured interaction was subsequently used to stimulate recall in post‐assessment interviews. Participants discussed the thinking underpinning their approach to different question types, reflected on strategies employed during completion of their assessments and described in detail any difficulties encountered. Interpretative phenomenological analysis identified seven major themes. These provided an insight into the way students approach formative e‐assessment tasks, the techniques they employ, issues associated with assessment design, and the provision and quality of feedback. Implications for future research and professional action to enhance the effectiveness of formative assessment were outlined.


Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allows researchers to observe neural activity in the human brain noninvasively, has revolutionized the scientific study of the mind. An fMRI experiment produces massive amounts of highly complex data; researchers face significant challenges in analyzing the data they collect. This book offers an overview of the most widely used statistical methods of analyzing fMRI data. Every step is covered, from preprocessing to advanced methods for assessing functional connectivity. The goal is not to describe which buttons to push in the popular software packages but to help readers understand the basic underlying logic, the assumptions, the strengths and weaknesses, and the appropriateness of each method. The book covers all of the important current topics in fMRI data analysis, including the relation of the fMRI BOLD (blood oxygen-level dependent) response to neural activation; basic analyses done in virtually every fMRI article -- preprocessing, constructing statistical parametrical maps using the general linear model, solving the multiple comparison problem, and group analyses; the most popular methods for assessing functional connectivity -- coherence analysis and Granger causality; two widely used multivariate approaches, principal components analysis and independent component analysis; and a brief survey of other current fMRI methods. The necessary mathematics is explained at a conceptual level, but in enough detail to allow mathematically sophisticated readers to gain more than a purely conceptual understanding. The book also includes short examples of Matlab code that implement many of the methods described; an appendix offers an introduction to basic Matlab matrix algebra commands (as well as a tutorial on matrix algebra). A second appendix introduces multivariate probability distributions.


Major and minor fracture analysis of the Tyndrum Fault Zone, Scotland, reveals a late Silurian history of transtensional deformation with opening across the zone as well as left-lateral strike-slip movements. The extensional phases are characterized by hydrothermal quartz veins and breccias associated with the early stages of precious-metal mineralization. The strike-slip movements are characterized by cataclastic textures and are associated with the later stages of the precious-metal mineralization. Further transtensional deformation in the Carboniferous is indicated by right-lateral strike-slip movements, associated with fractures throughout the zone containing both cataclastic and extensional hydrothermal quartz veins: the quartz veins are associated with base-metal mineralization. The pre-Devonian, WSW–ENE-directed, transtensional deformation of the zone is extrapolated to the whole Dalradian Terrane, the driving force being the gravitational collapse of the orogenic welt parallel to the tectonic trend. The necessary area increase is signified by the intrusion of the end-Caledonian granitic magmas and quartz-veins. The Carboniferous right-lateral movements resulting from N-S extension are related to similar movements, also transtensional, on the Great Glen Fault Zone and in the Midland Valley; the associated mineralization is related to a broader Dinantian base-metal mineralizing event.


Blocking the CD40‐CD154 pathway prevents allograft rejection and induces donor‐specific tolerance in various experimental models. However, the translation to clinical studies has been hampered by unexpected thromboembolic complications of CD154‐blocking antibodies. Thus, blocking CD40 instead is now considered as an alternative strategy. Here, we evaluated the role of donor CD40 in allospecific T‐cell responses in vitro and in an in vivo model for renal transplantation. Fully MHC‐mismatched allografts from CD40‐deficient donors displayed better renal function than wild type. These functional data correlated with a lower level of apoptosis in renal tubular epithelial cells and higher expression of PD‐L1, which is most probably because of a reduced Th17 response in recipients of a CD40‐deficient donor. This hypothesis was supported in vitro, where donor CD40 expression was important for the induction of direct allospecific T‐cell responses. Especially the induction of Th17 cells was critically dependent on donor CD40. IL‐17A in conjunction with interferon‐γ in turn rendered renal tubular epithelial cells to a more costimulatory state by upregulating CD40 and downregulating PD‐L1 expression. In conclusion, CD40 blockade not only reduces the allospecific T‐cell responses, but might also lead to protection of tubular epithelium from apoptosis and thereby preserve kidney allograft function.


Abstract. Formaldehyde (HCHO) is one of the most abundant non-methane volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted by fires. HCHO also undergoes chemical
production and loss as a fire plume ages, and it can be an important oxidant precursor. In this study, we disentangle the processes controlling HCHO
by examining its evolution in wildfire plumes sampled by the NASA DC-8 during the Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality experiment (FIREX-AQ) field campaign. In 9 of the 12 analyzed plumes,
dilution-normalized HCHO increases with physical age (range 1–6 h). The balance of HCHO loss (mainly via photolysis) and production (via
OH-initiated VOC oxidation) seems to control the sign and magnitude of this trend. Plume-average OH concentrations, calculated from VOC decays,
range from −0.5 (± 0.5) × 106 to 5.3 (± 0.7) × 106 cm−3. The production and loss rates of
dilution-normalized HCHO seem to decrease with plume age. Plume-to-plume variability in dilution-normalized secondary HCHO production correlates
with OH abundance rather than normalized OH reactivity, suggesting that OH is the main driver of fire-to-fire variability in HCHO secondary
production. Analysis suggests an effective HCHO yield of 0.33 (± 0.05) per VOC molecule oxidized for the 12 wildfire plumes. This finding can
help connect space-based HCHO observations to the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere and to VOC emissions.


This article argues that American constitution-making in the founding era was an international process. At the outset of the Revolution, the Continental Congress and the revolutionary assemblies collaborated to construct a portfolio of foundational documents that American diplomats carried across the Atlantic to seek European support. In the spring and summer of 1776, Congress drafted three of the documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Model Treaty. At exactly the same time, Congress recommended that the states draft a fourth type of document: state constitutions. Two dimensions of internationalism operated in the making of this portfolio. One was classically diplomatic: The documents were designed to persuade foreign states and their subjects to acknowledge American independence. The other was cultural and intellectual: The concepts and language with which the revolutionaries drafted their portfolio were part of a common transatlantic political culture, and the resulting documents were premised on the Enlightenment goal of redesigning government within and among nations to foster commerce and reduce the propensity for war. The portfolio thereby contributed to what can be called the "Constitutional Enlightenment." This second dimension was related to the first, in that legible government would help induce Europeans to see the American states as true states. The transatlantic elements of the portfolio provided European audiences with a stylized description of governance on the ground and an aspirational program for the new governments in progress. However, this intellectual dimension was also autonomous from diplomacy because it permitted Europeans to detach the revolutionary portfolio from the human events transpiring in North America and make it the object of transnational discussion about the optimal forms of institutional design, a discussion that could in turn be brought to bear on politics in Europe. The portfolio therefore helped transform the classical study of politics into the modern and potentially revolutionary project of comparative constitutionalism.


Abstract. Using 15N and 33P, we measured the turnover of organic and inorganic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) substrates, and the partitioning of N and P from these sources into two size fractions of marine osmotrophs during the course of a phytoplankton bloom in a nutrient manipulated mesocosm. The larger size fraction (>0.8 μm), mainly consisting of the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi, but also including an increasing amount of large particle-associated bacteria as the bloom proceeded, dominated uptake of the inorganic forms NH4+, NO3−, and PO43−. The uptake of N from leucine, and P from ATP and dissolved DNA, was initially dominated by the 0.8–0.2 μm size fraction, but shifted towards dominance by the >0.8 μm size fraction as the system turned to an increasing degree of N-deficiency. Normalizing uptake to biomass of phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria revealed that organisms in the 0.8–0.2 μm size fraction had higher specific affinity for leucine-N than those in the >0.8 μm size fraction when N was deficient, whereas the opposite was the case for NH4+. There was no such difference regarding the specific affinity for P substrates. Since heterotrophic bacteria seem to acquire N from organic compounds like leucine more efficiently than phytoplankton, our results suggest different structuring of the microbial food chain in N-limited relative to P-limited environments.


Drawing on archival and published documents in several languages, archeological data, and Iroquois oral traditions, "The Edge of the Woods "explores the ways in which spatial mobility represented the geographic expression of Iroquois social, political, and economic priorities. By reconstructing the late precolonial Iroquois settlement landscape and the paths of human mobility that constructed and sustained it, Jon Parmenter challenges the persistent association between Iroquois 'locality' and Iroquois 'culture, ' and more fully maps the extended terrain of physical presence and social activity that Iroquois people inhabited. Studying patterns of movement through and between the multiple localities in Iroquois space, the book offers a new understanding of Iroquois peoplehood during this period. According to Parmenter, Iroquois identities adapted, and even strengthened, as the very shape of Iroquois homelands changed dramatically during the seventeenth century.


Background To contribute to the current debate as to the relative influences of dietary intake and physical activity on the development of adiposity in community-based children. Methods Participants were 734 boys and girls measured at age 8, 10 and 12 years for percent body fat (dual emission x-ray absorptiometry), physical activity (pedometers, accelerometers); and dietary intake (1 and 2-day records), with assessments of pubertal development and socioeconomic status. Results Cross-sectional relationships revealed that boys and girls with higher percent body fat were less physically active, both in terms of steps per day and moderate and vigorous physical activity (both sexes p<0.001 for both measures). However, fatter children did not consume more energy, fat, carbohydrate or sugar; boys with higher percent body fat actually consumed less carbohydrate (p = 0.01) and energy (p = 0.05). Longitudinal analysis (combined data from both sexes) was weaker, but supported the cross-sectional findings, showing that children who reduced their PA over the four years increased their percent body fat (p = 0.04). Relationships in the 8 year-olds and also in the leanest quartile of all children, where adiposity-related underreporting was unlikely, were consistent with those of the whole group, indicating that underreporting did not influence our findings. Conclusions These data provide support for the premise that physical activity is the main source of variation in the percent body fat of healthy community-based Australian children. General community strategies involving dietary intake and physical activity to combat childhood obesity may benefit by making physical activity the foremost focus of attention.